Competition between (001) and (111) MgO thin film growth on Al-doped ZnO by oxygen plasma assisted pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

We report on the study of epitaxial MgO thin films on (0001) Al-doped ZnO (Al: ZnO) underlayers, grown by oxygen plasma assisted pulsed laser deposition technique. A systematic investigation of the MgO thin films was performed by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy, along with the current-voltage characteristics. A distinguished behavior was observed that the preferred MgO orientation changes from (111) to (001) in the films as the growth temperature increases. Two completely different in-plane epitaxial relationships were also determined from X-ray diffraction as: [110]MgO//[112¯0]Al: ZnO and [110]MgO//[11¯00]Al: ZnO for (001) MgO with 60° rotated triplet domains, and [110]MgO//[112¯0]Al: ZnO for (111) MgO with 180° rotated twin. The pronounced temperature dependence indicates a reconciliation of the nucleation driving forces among surface, interfacial, and strain energy for heteroepitaxy of cubic MgO on hexagonal Al: ZnO. The related interfacial atomic registry is considered to be important to the formation of unusual (001) MgO on hexagonal crystals. In addition, the electrical characterization revealed a dramatic reduction of the leakage current in (001) MgO thin films, whereas the small grain size of (111) MgO is identified by atomic force microscopy as a main cause of large leakage current.