High Mg-content wurtzite MgZnO alloys and their application in deep-ultraviolet light-emitters pumped by accelerated electrons

High Mg-content single-phase wurtzite MgZnO alloys with a bandgap of 4.35 eV have been obtained on sapphire substrate by introducing a composition-gradient MgxZn1-xO buffer layer. By employing the accelerated electrons obtained in a solid-state structure as an excitation source, an emission at around 285 nm, which is originated from the near-band-edge emission of the Mg0.51Zn0.49O active layer, has been observed. The results reported in this paper may provide a promising route to high performance deep-ultraviolet light-emitting devices by bypassing the challenging doping issues of wide bandgap semiconductors. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.