We have studied the properties of Si, Ge shallow donors and Fe, Mg deep acceptors in β-Ga2O3 through temperature dependent van der Pauw and Hall effect measurements of samples grown by a variety of methods, including edge-defined film-fed (EFG), Czochralski (CZ), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and low pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD). Through simultaneous, self-consistent fitting of the temperature dependent carrier density and mobility, we are able to accurately estimate the donor energy of Si and Ge to be 30 meV in β-Ga2O3. Additionally, we show that our measured Hall effect data are consistent with Si and Ge acting as typical shallow donors, rather than shallow DX centers. High temperature Hall effect measurement of Fe doped β-Ga2O3 indicates that the material remains weakly n-type even with the Fe doping, with an acceptor energy of 860 meV relative to the conduction band for the Fe deep acceptor. Van der Pauw measurements of Mg doped Ga2O3 indicate an activation energy of 1.1 eV, as determined from the temperature dependent conductivity.

Ga2O3 is an ultrawide bandgap semiconductor with a bandgap energy of 4.5–5.3 eV (depending on its crystal structure), which is much greater than those of conventional wide bandgap semiconductors such as SiC and GaN (3.3 eV and 3.4 eV, respectively). Therefore, Ga2O3 is promising for future power device applications, and further high-performance is expected compared to those of SiC or GaN power devices, which are currently in the development stage for commercial use. Ga2O3 crystallizes into various structures. Among them, promising results have already been reported for the most stable β-Ga2O3, and for α-Ga2O3, which has the largest bandgap energy of 5.3 eV. In this article, we overview state-of-the-art technologies of β-Ga2O3 and α-Ga2O3 for future power device applications. We will give a perspective on the advantages and disadvantages of these two phases in the context of comparing the two most promising polymorphs, concerning material properties, bulk crystal growth, epitaxial growth, device fabrication, and resulting device performance.

The Ge doping of β-Ga2O3(010) films was investigated using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy as the growth method. The dependences of the amount of Ge incorporated on the substrate temperature, Ge-cell temperature, and growth regime were studied by secondary ion mass spectrometry. The electron concentration and mobility were investigated using Van der Pauw Hall patterns. Hall measurement confirmed that Ge acts as an n-dopant in β-Ga2O3(010) films. These results were compared with similar films doped by Sn. The Hall data showed an improved electron mobility for the same electron concentration when Ge is used instead of Sn as the dopant.

β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3/β-Ga2O3 heterostructures were grown via plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 barrier was partially doped by Ge to achieve a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in Ga2O3. The formation of the 2DEG was confirmed by capacitance–voltage measurements. The impact of Ga-polishing on both the surface morphology and the reduction of the unintentionally incorporated Si at the growth interface was investigated using atomic force microscopy and secondary-ion mass spectrometry. Modulation doped field-effect transistors were fabricated. A maximum current density of 20 mA/mm with a pinch-off voltage of −6 V was achieved on a sample with a 2DEG sheet charge density of 1.2 × 1013 cm−2.

This paper reviews the progress of N-polar (000 1) GaN high frequency electronics that aims at addressing the device scaling challenges faced by GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) for radio-frequency and mixed-signal applications. Device quality (Al, In, Ga)N materials for N-polar heterostructures are developed using molecular beam epitaxy and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. The principles of polarization engineering for designing N-polar HEMT structures will be outlined. The performance, scaling behavior and challenges of microwave power devices as well as highly-scaled depletion-and enhancement-mode devices employing advanced technologies including self-aligned processes, n+ (In,Ga)N ohmic contact regrowth and high aspect ratio T-gates will be discussed. Recent research results on integrating N-polar GaN with Si for prospective novel applications will also be summarized.