Enhanced dielectric and piezoelectric responses in Zn1-xMgxO thin films near the phase separation boundary

Dielectric and piezoelectric properties for Zn1-xMgxO (ZMO) thin films are reported as a function of MgO composition up to and including the phase separation region. Zn1-xMgxO (0.25 <= x <= 0.5) thin films with c-axis textures were deposited by pulsed laser deposition on platinized sapphire substrates. The films were phase pure wurtzite for MgO concentrations up to 40%; above that limit, a second phase with rocksalt structure evolves with strong {100} texture. With increasing MgO concentration, the out-of-plane (d(33,f)) and in-plane (e(31,f)) piezoelectric coefficients increase by 360% and 290%, respectively. The increase in piezoelectric coefficients is accompanied by a 35% increase in relative permittivity. Loss tangent values fall monotonically with increasing MgO concentration, reaching a minimum of 0.001 for x >= 0.30, at which point the band gap is reported to be 4 eV. The enhanced piezoelectric response, the large band gap, and the low dielectric loss make Zn1-xMgxO an interesting candidate for thin film piezoelectric devices, and demonstrate that compositional phase transformations provide opportunities for property engineering. Published by AIP Publishing.