IJM011 Low-Pressure Pulsed-Laser Deposition of ZnMgO Nanostructures from Sputtered Zn-Coated Mg Target

Abstract

In this work, zinc-doped magnesium oxide nanostructures were synthesized by pulsed-laser deposition technique at low pressure. A zinc-coated magnesium target was prepared by magnetron sputtering technique to be irradiated by Nd:YAG laser pulses in presence of oxygen inside deposition chamber. Nanostructured zinc-doped magnesium oxide thin films were deposited on glass substrates. Two main parameters were studied; laser pulse energy and thickness of zinc layer on magnesium target, which was determined by sputtering time. As the film thickness was minimized (~50nm), the structural characterization showed that only ZnMgO structures were found in the final sample. As well, using higher energy of laser pulse has caused the nanoparticle size to be smaller.