Luminescent properties of ZnO and ZnMgO epitaxial layers under high hydrostatic pressure

Studies of ambient-pressure and high-pressure behaviour of photoluminescence (PL) as well as the phase transition pressure from wurtzite to cubic structure for a series of Zn1−xMgxO alloys as a function of the Mg-content x (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.34) are presented. The measured PL peak energy is shown to increase approximately linearly with increasing magnesium content from 3.36 eV to 4.11 eV, and the phase transition pressure from wurtzite to cubic structure decreases with increasing x from 12.6 GPa to 5.9 GPa. The phase transition is accompanied by a strong decrease of the near band-gap PL intensity. The value of the PL peak pressure coefficient dEPL/dp changes non-monotonically. It varies between 18.6 meV/GPa and 25.2 meV/GPa, and seems to depend on the layer thickness rather than on the layer composition, exhibiting strong scattering for several alloys with similar magnesium content. This behaviour can be due to the stabilizing influence of sapphire substrate, as is indicated both by the pressure coefficients and by the values of pressure of phase transition from wurtzite to rock salt structure in Zn1−xMgxO layers with the same or similar composition and different layer thicknesses. •Zinc oxide as a promising optoelectronic material.•The luminescence properties of Zn1−xMgxO layers with different Mg concentration.•Pressure-induced phase transition in ZnMgO layers.•Stabilizing influence of sapphire substrate on Zn1−xMgxO films.