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We studied the growth of Si-and Sn-doped homoepitaxial β-Ga 2 O 3 layers on (010)-oriented substrates by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). At optimal growth conditions (850 • C, 5 mbar) the layers were smooth with RMS roughness values of ∼600 pm. A microstructural study by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed a very high crystalline perfection of the layers. No dislocations or planar defects were observed within the field of view of TEM. Using Si as dopant, the free electron concentration could be varied in a range between 1 × 10 17 and 8 × 10 19 cm −3 , while with Sn the doping range was restricted to 4 × 10 17 −1 × 10 19 cm −3 . This was explained by a pronounced Sn memory effect in the MOVPE reactor that hampers achieving low carrier densities and by incorporation issues that limit the doping efficiency at high Sn doping levels. The electron mobility for a given doping density increased from ∼50 cm 2 /Vs for n = 8 × 10 19 cm −3 to ∼130 cm 2 /Vs for n = 1 × 10 17 cm −3 independently of the dopant. These values match the best literature data relative to β- Transparent Oxide Semiconductors (TSOs) are an emerging class of materials, which combine high electrical conductivity with transparency down to the deep UV region.1,2 Among TSOs, monoclinic β-Ga 2 O 3 is one of the most interesting compounds thanks to a wide bandgap (∼4.8 eV) that leads to a calculated electric breakdown field strength of 8 MV/cm. 3,4 The most promising application of β-Ga 2 O 3 is in the field of high power electronics, where it is predicted to outperform the leading technology based on SiC and GaN. A key advantage of β-Ga 2 O 3 is that native substrates can be fabricated from bulk single crystals grown from the melt by Floating Zone (FZ), 5 Edge-Defined Film Fed Growth (EFG) 6 and Czochralski (CZ) 7,8 methods. The growth of homoepitaxial β-Ga 2 O 3 has been mainly investigated by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), 9-11 and only rarely by metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE).12-14 For both epitaxial techniques Schottky diodes and field-effect transistors have been realized. 15,16 The structural quality of (100) β-Ga 2 O 3 layers grown by MOVPE has been relatively poor so far, with maximum electron mobilities of ∼40 cm 2 /Vs, 13 contrary to values achieved for layers grown by MBE on (010)-oriented substrates that are comparable to those of bulk material (>100 cm 2 /Vs). 10 A further improvement of the growth of β-Ga 2 O 3 by MOVPE is desirable, since MOVPE is more suitable for large-scale production.Here we report on the MOVPE-growth of Si-and Sn-doped epitaxial β-Ga 2 O 3 layers on (010) β-Ga 2 O 3 substrates. We selected this substrate orientation to investigate whether it promotes the growth of layers with higher crystalline perfection. Moreover, thermal conductivity in β-Ga 2 O 3 is anisotropic with the highest value along the [010] direction (27.0 W/mK at RT) and the lowest one along the [100] direction (10.9 W/mK at RT). 17 Heat dissipation in devices fabricated on (010)-oriented substrates is then predicted to be a...

Epitaxial β‐Ga2O3 layers have been grown on β‐Ga2O3 (100) substrates using metal‐organic vapor phase epitaxy. Trimethylgallium and pure oxygen or water were used as precursors for gallium and oxygen, respectively. By using pure oxygen as oxidant, we obtained nano‐crystals in form of wires or agglomerates although the growth parameters were varied in wide range. With water as an oxidant, smooth homoepitaxial β‐Ga2O3 layers were obtained under suitable conditions. Based on thermodynamical considerations of the gas phase and published ab initio data on the catalytic action of the (100) surface of β‐Ga2O3 we discuss the adsorption and incorporation processes that promote epitaxial layer growth. The structural properties of the β‐Ga2O3 epitaxial layers were characterized by X‐ray diffraction pattern and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. As‐grown layers exhibited sharp peaks that were assigned to the monocline gallium oxide phase and odd reflections that could be assigned to stacking faults and twin boundaries, also confirmed by TEM. Shifts of the layer peak towards smaller 2θ values with respect to the Bragg reflection for the bulk peaks have been observed. After post growth thermal treatment in oxygen‐containing atmosphere the reflections of the layers do shift back to the position of the bulk β‐Ga2O3 peaks, which was attributed to significant reduction of lattice defects in the grown layers after thermal treatment.

The onset of optical absorption in In2O3 at about 2.7 eV is investigated by transmission spectroscopy of single crystals grown from the melt. This absorption is not defect related but is due to the fundamental band gap of In2O3. The corresponding spectral dependence of the absorption coefficient is determined up to α = 2500 cm−1 at a photon energy hν = 3.05 eV at room temperature without indication of saturation. A detailed analysis of the hν dependence of α including low‐temperature absorption data shows that the absorption process can be well approximated by indirect allowed transitions. It is suggested that the fundamental band gap of In2O3 is of indirect nature. The temperature dependence of the fundamental band gap is measured over a wide range from 9 to 1273 K and can be well fitted by a single‐oscillator model. Compared to other semiconductors the reduction of the gap with increasing temperature is exceptionally strong in In2O3.

The authors have applied positron annihilation spectroscopy to study the vacancy defects in undoped and Si-doped Ga2O3 thin films. The results show that Ga vacancies are formed efficiently during metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy growth of Ga2O3 thin films. Their concentrations are high enough to fully account for the electrical compensation of Si doping. This is in clear contrast to another n-type transparent semiconducting oxide In2O3, where recent results show that n-type conductivity is not limited by cation vacancies but by other intrinsic defects such as Oi.

We here present an experimental study on (010)-oriented β-Ga2O3 thin films homoepitaxially grown by plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy. We study the effect of substrate treatments (i.e., O-plasma and Ga-etching) and several deposition parameters (i.e., growth temperature and metal-to-oxygen flux ratio) on the resulting Ga2O3 surface morphology and growth rate. In situ and ex-situ characterizations identified the formation of (110) and (1¯10)-facets on the nominally oriented (010) surface induced by the Ga-etching of the substrate and by several growth conditions, suggesting (110) to be a stable (yet unexplored) substrate orientation. Moreover, we demonstrate how metal-exchange catalysis enabled by an additional In-flux significantly increases the growth rate (>threefold increment) of monoclinic Ga2O3 at high growth temperatures, while maintaining a low surface roughness (rms < 0.5 nm) and preventing the incorporation of In into the deposited layer. This study gives important indications for obtaining device-quality thin films and opens up the possibility to enhance the growth rate in β-Ga2O3 homoepitaxy on different surfaces [e.g., (100) and (001)] via molecular beam epitaxy.

Heteroepitaxial Ga2O3 was grown on c-plane sapphire by molecular beam epitaxy, pulsed-laser deposition, and metalorganic chemical vapor deposition. Investigation by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) revealed the presence of a three-monolayer-thick pseudomorphically grown layer of trigonal α-Ga2O3 at the interface between the c-plane sapphire substrate and the β-Ga2O3 independent of the growth method. On top of this pseudomorphically grown layer, plastically relaxed monoclinic β-Ga2O3 grew in the form of rotational domains. We rationalize the stable growth of the high-pressure trigonal α-phase of Ga2O3 in terms of the stabilization of the α-Ga2O3 phase by the lattice-mismatch-induced strain.

We present a systematic study on the influence of the miscut orientation on structural and electronic properties in the homoepitaxial growth on off-oriented β-Ga2O3 (100) substrates by metalorganic chemical vapour phase epitaxy. Layers grown on (100) substrates with 6° miscut toward the [001¯] direction show high electron mobilities of about 90 cm2 V−1 s−1 at electron concentrations in the range of 1–2 × 1018 cm−3, while layers grown under identical conditions but with 6° miscut toward the [001] direction exhibit low electron mobilities of around 10 cm2 V−1 s−1. By using high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, we find significant differences in the surface morphologies of the substrates after annealing and of the layers in dependence on their miscut direction. While substrates with miscuts toward [001¯] exhibit monolayer steps terminated by (2¯01) facets, mainly bilayer steps are found for miscuts toward [001]. Epitaxial growth on both substrates occurs in step-flow mode. However, while layers on substrates with a miscut toward [001¯] are free of structural defects, those on substrates with a miscut toward [001] are completely twinned with respect to the substrate and show stacking mismatch boundaries. This twinning is promoted at step edges by transformation of the (001)-B facets into (2¯01) facets. Density functional theory calculations of stoichiometric low index surfaces show that the (2¯01) facet has the lowest surface energy following the (100) surface. We conclude that facet transformation at the step edges is driven by surface energy minimization for the two kinds of crystallographically inequivalent miscut orientations in the monoclinic lattice of β-Ga2O3.