Effect of magnesium incorporation in zinc oxide films for optical waveguide applications

MgxZn1-xO (x = 0.05-0.33) films were Successfully deposited by the sol-gel spin coating method Zinc acetate and magnesium acetate were used as starting precursors and ethanol as solvent to prepare the sol-gel. MgZnO films were deposited on silicon (1 0 0) substrate with varying molar composition and post annealed at 450 degrees C Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), Ellipsometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Analysis by X-ray (EDAX) was used to characterize the deposited films Here, effect of Mg doping concentration oil the chemical, structural, mechanical and optical properties of MgxZn1-xO films has been investigated EDAX spectrum clearly shows the peak of Mg along with Zn and O indicating successful incorporation of Mg into the ZnO From XRD spectra, it reveals that deposited film for 0.15 molar concentration was polycrystalline in nature We Succeeded in tailoring refractive index of MgZnO films from 1.44 to 1.11 corresponding to 0.05 to 0.33 Mg molar incorporation in ZnO The refractive index was found to be decreased with an increase in Mg molar concentration and the stretching bond positions of fundamental ZnO peak was shifted front 409 to 417 cm(-1). Our results explore the applicability of MgZnO as cladding layer material to form efficient heterostructure with ZnO as an active layer. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved