Bandgap engineering in amorphous BexZnyO thin films

Reactive sputtering was used to grow thin films of BexZnyO on Si (100) substrates. X-ray diffraction patterns of the films revealed no structure, suggesting that the films have an amorphous nature. The optical '' bandgap '' energy of the amorphous BexZnyO (a-BexZnyO) films was derived from vacuum ultraviolet variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements. The value of the energy bandgap of the films can be efficiently engineered to vary from the amorphous ZnO bandgap of 3.35 to 7.91 eV by changing the Be doping level in the a-BeZnO. The a-BeZnO films could be used for fabricating excellent a-ZnO based electronic devices.