Heteroepitaxial growth of thick α-Ga_2O_3 film on sapphire(0001)by MIST-CVD technique

The 8 μm thick single-crystalline α-Ga2O3 epilayers have been heteroepitaxially grown on sapphire(0001) substrates via mist chemical vapor deposition technique. High resolution X-ray diffraction measurements show that the full-widths-at-halfmaximum(FWHM) of rocking curves for the(0006) and(10-14) planes are 0.024° and 0.24°, and the corresponding densities of screw and edge dislocations are 2.24 × 106 and 1.63 × 109 cm-2, respectively, indicative of high single crystallinity. The out-ofplane and in-plane epitaxial relationships are [0001] α-Ga2O3//[0001] α-Al2O3 and [11-20] α-Ga2O3//[11-20] α-Al2O3, respectively.The lateral domain size is in micron scale and the indirect bandgap is determined as 5.03 eV by transmittance spectra. Raman measurement indicates that the lattice-mismatch induced compressive residual strain cannot be ruled out despite the large thickness of the α-Ga2O3 epilayer. The achieved high quality α-Ga2O3 may provide an alternative material platform for developing high performance power devices and solar-blind photodetectors.

High performance lateral Schottky diodes based on quasi-degenerated Ga_2O_3

Ni/β-Ga_2 O_3 lateral Schottky barrier diodes(SBDs) were fabricated on a Sn-doped quasi-degenerate n^+-Ga_2 O_3(201)bulk substrate. The resultant diodes with an area of 7.85 ×10^(-5) cm^2 exhibited excellent rectifying characteristics with an ideality factor of 1.21, a forward current density(J) of 127.4 A/cm2 at 1.4 V, a specific on-state resistance(R_(on,sp)) of1.54 mΩ·cm^2,and an ultra-high on/off ratio of 2.1 ×10^(11) at±1 V. Due to a small depletion region in the highly-doped substrate, a breakdown feature was observed at-23 V, which corresponded to a breakdown field of 2.1 MV/cm and a power figure-of-merit(VB2/R_(on)) of 3.4×10~5 W/cm^2. Forward current-voltage characteristics were described well by the thermionic emission theory while thermionic field emission and trap-assisted tunneling were the dominant transport mechanisms at low and high reverse biases, respectively, which was a result of the contribution of deep-level traps at the metal-semiconductor interface. The presence of interfacial traps also caused the difference in Schottky barrier heights of 1.31 eV and 1.64 eV respectively determined by current-voltage and capacitance-voltage characteristics. With reduced trapping effect and incorporation of drift layers, the β-Ga_2 O_3 SBDs could further provide promising materials for delivering both high current output and high breakdown voltage.

Review of gallium-oxide-based solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors

Solar-blind photodetectors are of great interest to a wide range of industrial, civil, environmental, and biological applications. As one of the emerging ultrawide-bandgap semiconductors, gallium oxide(Ga_2O_3) exhibits unique advantages over other wide-bandgap semiconductors, especially in developing high-performance solar-blind photodetectors. This paper comprehensively reviews the latest progresses of solar-blind photodetectors based on Ga_2O_3 materials in various forms of bulk single crystal, epitaxial films, nanostructures, and their ternary alloys.The basic working principles of photodetectors and the fundamental properties and synthesis of Ga_2O_3, as well as device processing developments, have been briefly summarized. A special focus is to address the physical mechanism for commonly observed huge photoconductive gains. Benefitting from the rapid development in material epitaxy and device processes, Ga_2O_3-based solar-blind detectors represent to date one of the most prospective solutions for UV detection technology towards versatile applications.

Toward emerging gallium oxide semiconductors:A roadmap

Owing to the advantages of ultra-wide bandgap and rich material systems,gallium oxide(Ga_(2)O_(3))has emerged as a highly viable semiconductor material for new researches.This article mainly focuses on the growth processes,material characteristics,and applications of Ga_(2)O_(3).Compared with single crystals and the epitaxial growth of other wide-bandgap semiconductors,large-size and high-quality𝛽-Ga_(2)O_(3) single crystals can be efficiently grown with a low cost,making them highly competitive.Thanks to the availability of high-quality single crystals,epi-taxial films,and rich material systems,high-performance semiconductor devices based on Ga_(2)O_(3) go through a booming development in recent years.The defects and interfaces of Ga_(2)O_(3) are comprehensively analyzed owing to their significant influence on practical applications.In this study,the two most common applications of Ga_(2)O_(3) materials are introduced.The high breakdown electric field,high working temperature,and excellent Baliga’s figure-of-merit of Ga_(2)O_(3) represent an inspiring prospect for power electronic devices.In addition,the excellent absorption in deep-ultraviolet band provides new ideas for optoelectronic detectors and ensures the dramatic progress.Finally,the summary,challenges,and prospects of the Ga_(2)O_(3) materials and devices are presented and discussed.

Band alignment and polarization engineering inκ-Ga_(2)O_(3)/GaN ferroelectric heterojunction

Ferroelectric-semiconductor heterostructures offer an alternative strategy to manipulate polarization towards advanced devices with engineered functionality and improved performance.In this work,we report on the heteroepitaxial construction,band structure alignment and polarization engineering of the single-phasedκ-Ga_(2)O_(3)/GaN ferroelectric/polar heterojunction.A type-II band alignment is determined at theκ-Ga_(2)O_(3)/GaN polar hetero-interface,with a valence band offset of(1.74±0.1)eV and a conduction band offset of(0.29■0.1)eV.Besides the band edge discontinuity,charge dipoles induced by spontaneous polarization lead to the observed band bending with built-in potentials of 0.9 and 0.33 eV,respectively,at theκ-Ga_(2)O_(3)surface andκ-Ga_(2)O_(3)/GaN interface.The polarization switching properties of ferroelectricκ-Ga_(2)O_(3)are identified with a remanent polarization of approximately 2.7μC/cm^(2)via the direct hysteresis remanent polarization/voltage(P-V)loop measurement.These findings allow the rational design ofκ-Ga_(2)O_(3)ferroelectric/polar heterojunction for the application of power electronic devices,advanced memories and even ultra-low loss negative capacitance transistors.

Hybrid plasmonic–dielectric metal-nanowire coupler for high-efficiency broadband nonlinear frequency conversion

Pursuing nanometer-scale nonlinear converters based on second harmonic generation(SHG)is a stimulating strategy for bio-sensing,on-chip optical circuits,and quantum information processing,but the light-conversion efficiency is still poor in such ultra-small dimensional nanostructures.Herein,we demonstrate a highly enhanced broadband frequency converter through a hybrid plasmonic–dielectric coupler,a ZnTe/ZnO single core–shell nanowire(NW)integrated with silver(Ag)nanoparticles(NPs).The NW dimension has been optimized to allow the engineering of dielectric resonances at both fundamental wave and second harmonic frequencies.Meanwhile,the localized surface plasmon resonances are excited in the regime between the Ag NPs and ZnTe/ZnO dielectric NW,as evidenced by plasmon-enhanced Raman scattering and resonant absorption.These two contributors remarkably enhance local fields and consequently support the strong broadband SHG outputs in this hybrid nanostructure by releasing stringent phase-matching conditions.The proposed nanoscale nonlinear optical converter enables the manipulation of nonlinear light–matter interactions toward the development of on-chip nanophotonic systems.