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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 May 2012
Electrochemical deposition was used to fabricate polycrystalline ZnO thin films in solutions containing zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine. All samples showed intense UV photoluminescence (PL) near the band edge in addition to weak broad bands due to defects. When the source solution was slightly doped with Mg2+ ions, the defect induced emission was significantly suppressed while the UV peak position and intensity remained the same. Auger electron spectroscopy revealed no Mg contents in the films within the detection limit. A possible growth mechanism was proposed, based on the chemical reactivity of Mg and Zn, to interpret the observed PL data, which is supported by samples grown in Ca-doped solutions.