The effect of the growth temperature and Mg/(Mg+Zn) molar flow rate ratio of metal organic sources on the crystalline structure of Zn1-xMgxO (ZMO) films is investigated in thin films prepared by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) process on fused silica in order to obtain the wide-bandgap ZMO films with single wurtzite structure, which is very important to achieve high-efficiency chalcopyrite solar cells. Based on the measurements and analysis of the fabricated samples, the ZMO films with the controllable bandgap from 3.3 to 3.72 eV can exhibit a single wurtzite phase depending on the growth temperature and Mg content. Furthermore, the resistivity of ZMO films is comparable to that of ZnO film. It is a good indication that ZMO film is superior to US or ZnO films as buffer and window layers mainly due to its controllable bandgap energy and safety. As a result, the solar cells with ZMO buffer were fabricated without any surface treatment of Cu(InGa)(SSe)(2) (CIGSSe) absorber or antireflection coating, and the efficiency of 10.24% was obtained. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.