Effects of Mg doping content and annealing temperature on the structural properties of Zn_（1-x）Mg_xO thin films prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering

The doping content of Mg plays an important role in the crystalline structure and morphology properties of Zn（1-x ）MgxO thin films. Here,using radio-frequency magnetron sputtering method,we prepared Zn（1-x ）MgxO thin films on single crystalline Si（100） substrates with a series of x values. By means of X-ray diffraction（XRD） and scanning electron microscope（SEM）,the crystalline structure and morphology of Zn（1-x ）MgxO thin films with different x values are investigated. The crystalline structure of Zn（1-x ）MgxO thin film is single phase with x〈0.3,while there is phase separation phenomenon with x〉0.3,and hexagonal and cubic structures will coexist in Zn（1-x ）MgxO thin films with higher x values. Especially with lower x values,a shoulder peak of 35.1° appearing in the XRD pattern indicates a double-crystalline structure of Zn（1-x ）MgxO thin film. The crystalline quality has been improved and the inner stress has been released,after the Zn（1-x ）MgxO thin films were annealed at 600 °C in vacuum condition.