Gallium oxide (Ga2O3) is an emerging wide bandgap semiconductor that has attracted a large amount of interest due to its ultra-large bandgap of 4.8 eV, a high breakdown field of 8 MV/cm, and high thermal stability. These properties enable Ga2O3 a promising material for a large range of applications, such as high power electronic devices and solar-blind ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors. In the past few years, a significant process has been made for the growth of high-quality bulk crystals and thin films and device optimizations for power electronics and solar blind UV detection. However, many challenges remain, including the difficulty in p-type doping, a large density of unintentional electron carriers and defects/impurities, and issues with the device process (contact, dielectrics, and surface passivation), and so on. The purpose of this article is to provide a timely review on the fundamental understanding of the semiconductor physics and chemistry of Ga2O3 in terms of electronic band structures, optical properties, and chemistry of defects and impurity doping. Recent progress and perspectives on epitaxial thin film growth, chemical and physical properties of defects and impurities, p-type doping, and ternary alloys with In2O3 and Al2O3 will be discussed.

over 80% in the visible light range. [2] ITO is widely used as essential transparent conducting electrodes in flat panel displays, touch screens, and solar cells. The global ITO market has an annual growth rate of 15% and is valued at 7 billion USD in 2019. In 2004, Nomura and Hosono et al. made great breakthrough in oxide thin film transistor (TFT) based on amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) grown at room temperature. [3] The amorphous IGZO showed an impressive mobility of 9 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , about 10 times of amorphous hydrogenated Si TFT which was used exclusively for displays at that time. Soon after Hosono's seminal work, IGZO TFT was commercialized by Sharp Corporation in 2012, and then rapidly expanded to mobile phones, tablets and laptops. [4] In 2019, the fifth generation IGZO TFT went to mass production, capable of driving large-area displays (85 in.) with ultrahigh 8 K resolution. [5] Moreover, oxide TFTs are also considered as the most promising transistors for next-generation curved, flexible, or even rollable electronics. [6] The great success of oxide semiconductors is underpinned by their unique electronic structure, amenability for n-type doping, as well as intrinsic stability. Oxide semiconductors have bandgap larger than 3 eV, enabling transparency in the visible spectrum. The conduction band (CB) of oxide semiconductors is typically composed of empty ns-orbitals (n ≥ 4) of heavy posttransition metals. The large, spherical ns-orbitals give rise to a high electron mobility even in amorphous phases, as well as high dopability for hosting a high density of electrons. Therefore, oxide semiconductors are amendable via doping to be a transparent semiconductor or a transparent conductor, depending on the purposes of device applications, e.g., TFT or ITO. However, there are two sides to every coin. The nature of electronic structure of oxide semiconductors also leads to the fundamental limitation of achieving p-type oxide semiconductors, which is exacerbated by the presence of a high background electron density arising from the formation of unintentional defects and impurities. [1a,7] The lack of p-type semiconductor significantly limits the great potential of oxide electronics. [7b] A high electron density and defect states cause detrimental effects on oxide TFT device performance, such as a high off-current, lower mobility, and instability issues. [8] In the past two decades, considerable research efforts have been made to understand the microscopic origin of defect states and background electrons Wide bandgap oxide semiconductors constitute a unique class of materials that combine properties of electrical conductivity and optical transparency. They are being widely used as key materials in optoelectronic device applications, including flat-panel displays, solar cells, OLED, and emerging flexible and transparent electronics. In this article, an up-to-date review on both the fundamental understanding of materials physics of oxide semiconductors, and recent research progress on design of new...

Complex transition-metal oxides (TMOs) are critical materials for cutting-edge electronics and energy-related technologies, on the basis of their intriguing properties including ferroelectricity, magnetism, superconductivity, (photo- and electro-) catalytic activity, ionic...

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The authors report on the resistive switching effect in YBa2Cu3O6+x/Nb-doped SrTiO3 heterojunctions. The current-voltage curves of these heterojunctions show hysteresis, which increases with decreasing temperature and oxygen content. Multiresistance states are realized by voltage pulses with different amplitudes. The relaxation of the junction current after switching follows the Curie–Von Schweidler law. More interestingly, the resistance of the low resistance state for the heterojunction shows a metallic behavior with a remarkable drop at Tc. The results were discussed in terms of the trapping-detrapping process via oxygen vacancies near the interface of the heterojunction and the conducting filaments through the junction barrier.

Oxide semiconductors are key materials in many technologies from flat-panel displays,solar cells to transparent electronics. However, many potential applications are hindered by the lack of high mobility p-type oxide semiconductors due to the localized O-2p derived valence band (VB) structure. In this work, the VB structure modulation is reported for perovskite Ba 2 BiMO 6 (M = Bi, Nb, Ta) via the Bi 6s 2 lone pair state to achieve p-type oxide semiconductors with high hole mobility up to 21 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , and optical bandgaps widely varying from 1.5 to 3.2 eV. Pulsed laser deposition is used to grow high quality epitaxial thin films. Synergistic combination of hard x-ray photoemission, x-ray absorption spectroscopies, and density functional theory calculations are used to gain insight into the electronic structure of Ba 2 BiMO 6 . The high mobility is attributed to the highly dispersive VB edges contributed from the strong coupling of Bi 6s with O 2p at the top of VB that lead to low hole effective masses (0.4-0.7 m e ). Large variation in bandgaps results from the change in the energy positions of unoccupied Bi 6s orbital or Nb/Ta d orbitals that form the bottom of conduction band. P-N junction diode constructed with p-type Ba 2 BiTaO 6 and n-type Nb doped SrTiO 3 exhibits high rectifying ratio of 1.3 × 10 4 at ±3 V, showing great potential in fabricating high-quality devices. This work provides deep insight into the electronic structure of Bi 3+ based perovskites and guides the development of new p-type oxide semiconductors.

The authors report on the temperature dependence of electronic transport property of Ag/ La 2 CuO 4+x ͑LCO͒ heterostructures with different oxygen contents. Bipolar resistance switching was observed in the sample with larger oxygen content and disappears below 200 K, consistent with the characteristic temperature of oxygen migration in LCO. The resistance relaxation of the low resistance state shows similar behavior as that of oxygen diffusion in LCO and vanishes below 200 K. Analysis of the results strongly indicates that the resistance switching results from the modulation of Schottky barrier by oxygen electromigration at the interface.

The quality of perovskite films plays a crucial role in the performance of the corresponding devices. However, the commonly employed perovskite polycrystalline films often contain a high density of defects created during film production and cell operation, including unsaturated coordinated Pb 2+ and Pb 0 , which can act as nonradiative recombination centers, thus reducing open-circuit voltage. Effectively eliminating both kinds of defects is an important subject of research to improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE). Here, we employ hydrogen octylphosphonate potassium (KHOP) as a multifunctional additive to passivate defects. The molecule is introduced into perovskite precursor solution to regulate the perovskite film growth process by coordinating with Pb, which can not only passivate the Pb 2+ defect but also effectively inhibit the production of Pb 0 ; at the same time, the presence of K + reduces device hysteresis by inhibiting I − migration and finally realizes double passivation of Pb 2+ and I − -based defects. Moreover, the moderate hydrophobic alkyl chain in the molecule improves the moisture stability. Ultimately, the optimal efficiency can reach 22.21%.