Post-growth annealing and wide bandgap modulation of BeZnO layers grown by RF co-sputtering of ZnO and Be targets

ZnO based oxide system BexZn1−xO alloy of various compositions has been successfully grown by the RF co-sputtering method. The crystallinity of the BexZn1−xO alloys has been remarkably improved after the post-annealing at 600 °C compared with the BexZn1−xO alloys post-annealed at other temperatures. The x value of the BexZn1−xO layers has been increased from 0.022 to 0.17 by adjusting the RF-power of the Be target. Also, the optical bandgap energy has been modulated from 3.2218 to 3.7978 eV, respectively. Based on our results, a bandgap bowing parameter of BexZn1−xO alloy has been extracted out to be 4.5 eV. These findings could be useful to fabricate the ZnO/BexZn1−xO quantum structures and bandgap modulation for deep ultraviolet-light-emitting diodes.