Self-compensation, the tendency of a crystal to lower its energy by forming point defects to counter the effects of a dopant, is here quantitatively proven. Based on a new theoretical formalism and several different experimental techniques we demonstrate that the addition of 1.4 x 10 21 -cm -3 Ga donors in ZnO causes the lattice to form 1.7 x 10 20 -cm -3 Zn-vacancy acceptors. The calculated V Zn formation energy of 0.2 eV is consistent with predictions from density functional theory. Our formalism is of general validity and can be used to investigate self-compensation in any degenerate semiconductor material.2
A Sn-doped (100) β-Ga2O3 epitaxial layer was grown via metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) onto a singlecrystal, Mg-doped semi-insulating (100) β-Ga2O3 substrate. Ga2O3-based Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field effect Transistors (MOSFETs) with a 2 µm gate length (LG), 3.4 µm source-drain spacing (LSD) and 0.6 µm gate-drain spacing (LGD) were fabricated and characterized. Devices were observed to hold a gate-to-drain voltage of 230 V in the off-state. The gate-to-drain electric field corresponds to 3.8 MV/cm, which is the highest reported for any transistor and surpassing bulk GaN and SiC theoretical limits. Further performance projections are made based on layout, process, and material optimizations to be considered in future iterations.
Gallium Oxide has undergone rapid technological maturation over the last decade, pushing it to the forefront of ultra-wide band gap semiconductor technologies. Maximizing the potential for a new semiconductor system requires a concerted effort by the community to address technical barriers which limit performance. Due to the favorable intrinsic material properties of gallium oxide, namely, critical field strength, widely tunable conductivity, mobility, and melt-based bulk growth, the major targeted application space is power electronics where high performance is expected at low cost. This Roadmap presents the current state-of-the-art and future challenges in 15 different topics identified by a large number of people active within the gallium oxide research community. Addressing these challenges will enhance the state-of-the-art device performance and allow us to design efficient, high-power, commercially scalable microelectronic systems using the newest semiconductor platform.
Sn-doped gallium oxide (Ga2O3) wrap-gate fin-array field-effect transistors (finFETs) were formed by top-down BCl3 plasma etching on a native semi-insulating Mg-doped (100) β-Ga2O3 substrate. The fin channels have a triangular cross-section and are approximately 300 nm wide and 200 nm tall. FinFETs, with 20 nm Al2O3 gate dielectric and ∼2 μm wrap-gate, demonstrate normally-off operation with a threshold voltage between 0 and +1 V during high-voltage operation. The ION/IOFF ratio is greater than 105 and is mainly limited by high on-resistance that can be significantly improved. At VG = 0, a finFET with 21 μm gate-drain spacing achieved a three-terminal breakdown voltage exceeding 600 V without a field-plate.
Hall-effect measurements have been performed on a series of highly conductive thin films of Ga-doped ZnO grown by pulsed laser deposition and annealed in a forming-gas atmosphere (5% H2 in Ar). The mobility as a function of thickness d is analyzed by a simple formula involving only ionized-impurity and boundary scattering and having a single fitting parameter, the acceptor/donor concentration ratio K=NA/ND. For samples with d=3–100 nm, Kavg=0.41, giving ND=4.7×1020 and NA=1.9×1020 cm−3. Thicker samples require a two-layer formulation due to inhomogeneous annealing.
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