Epitaxial growth of Mn-doped ZnO thin films on Al2O3 (0001)

Abstract

Growth behavior of Mn-doped ZnO thin films (Zn1-xMnxO) on Al2O3 (0001) substrates by pulsed laser deposition was investigated as a function of Mn content (0.00 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 0.35) mainly using synchrotron x-ray diffraction. We found that a small amount of Mn doping (x = 0.05) significantly improves the crystalline quality, and also leads to a singly oriented film. The superior epitaxial growth of the film with an optimum Mn content seems to be associated with its microstructural evolution.