A free‐standing β‐Ga2O3, also called β‐Ga2O3nanomembrane (NM), is an important next‐generation wide bandgap semiconductor that can be used for myriad high‐performance future flexible electronics. However, details of structure‐property relationships of β‐Ga2O3NM under strain conditions have not yet investigated. In this paper, the electrical properties of β‐Ga2O3NM under different uniaxial strain conditions using various surface analysis methods are systematically investigated and layer‐delamination and fractures are revealed. The electrical characterization shows that the presence of nanometer‐sized gaps between fractured pieces in β‐Ga2O3NM causes a severe property degradation due to higher resistance and uneven charge distribution in β‐Ga2O3NM which is also confirmed by the multiphysics simulation. Interestingly, the degraded performance in β‐Ga2O3NM is substantially recovered by introducing excessive OH‐bonds in fractured β‐Ga2O3NM via the water vapor treatment. The X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy study reveals that a formation of OH‐bonds by the water vapor treatment chemically connects nano‐gaps. Thus, the treated β‐Ga2O3samples exhibit reliable and stable recovered electrical properties up to ≈90% of their initial values. Therefore, this result offers a viable route for utilizing β‐Ga2O3NMs as a next‐generation material for a myriad of high‐performance flexible electronics and optoelectronic applications.
Large-size free-standing single-crystal β-Ga 2 O 3 membranes fabricated by hydrogen implantation and lift-off
In this paper, we demonstrated large-size free-standing single-crystal β-Ga 2 O 3 NMs fabricated by the hydrogen implantation and lift-off process directly from MOCVD grown β-Ga 2 O 3 epifilms on native substrates. The optimum implantation conditions were simulated with a Monte-Carlo simulation method to obtain a high hydrogen concentration with a narrow ion distribution at the desired depth. Two as grown β-Ga 2 O 3 samples with different orientations ([100] and [001]) were used to successfully create 1.2 μm thick β-Ga 2 O 3 NMs without any physical damage. These β-Ga 2 O 3 NMs were then transfer-printed onto rigid and flexible substrates such as SiC and polyimide substrates. Various material characterization studies were performed to investigate their crystal quality, surface morphologies, optical properties, mechanical properties, and bandgaps before and after the lift-off and revealed that the good material quality was maintained. This result offers several benefits in that the thickness, doping, and size of β-Ga 2 O 3 NMs can be fully controlled. Moreover, more advanced β-Ga 2 O 3 -based NM structures such as (Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 /Ga 2 O 3 heterostructure NMs can be directly created from their bulk epitaxy substrates; thus this study provides a viable route for the realization of high performance β-Ga 2 O 3 NM-based electronics and optoelectronics that can be built on various substrates and platforms.
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- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10273768
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Materials Chemistry C
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 19
- ISSN:
- 2050-7526
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 6180 to 6186
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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SiC and Ga 2 O 3 are promising wide band gap semiconductors for applications in power electronics because of their high breakdown electric field and normally off operation. However, lack of a suitable dielectric material that can provide high interfacial quality remains a problem. This can potentially lead to high leakage current and conducting loss. In this work, we present a novel atomic layer deposition process to grow epitaxially Mg x Ca 1− x O dielectric layers on 4H-SiC(0001) and β-Ga 2 O 3 $\left( {\bar 201} \right)$ substrates. By tuning the composition of Mg x Ca 1− x O toward the substrate lattice constant, better interfacial epitaxy can be achieved. The interfacial and epitaxy qualities were investigated and confirmed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies. Mg 0.72 Ca 0.28 O film showed the highest epitaxy quality on 4H-SiC(0001) because of its closest lattice match with the substrate. Meanwhile, highly textured Mg 0.25 Ca 0.75 O films can be grown on β-Ga 2 O 3 $\left( {\bar 201} \right)$ with a preferred orientation of (111).more » « less
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Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growths of β-Ga 2 O 3 on on-axis (100) Ga 2 O 3 substrates are comprehensively investigated. Key MOCVD growth parameters including growth temperature, pressure, group VI/III molar flow rate ratio, and carrier gas flow rate are mapped. The dependence of the growth conditions is correlated with surface morphology, growth rate, and electron transport properties of the MOCVD grown (100) β-Ga 2 O 3 thin films. Lower shroud gas (argon) flow is found to enhance the surface smoothness with higher room temperature (RT) electron Hall mobility. The growth rate of the films decreases but with an increase of electron mobility as the VI/III molar flow rate ratio increases. Although no significant variation on the surface morphologies is observed at different growth temperatures, the general trend of electron Hall mobilities are found to increase with increasing growth temperature. The growth rates reduce significantly with uniform surface morphologies as the chamber pressure increases. By tuning the silane flow rate, the controllable carrier concentration of (100) β-Ga 2 O 3 thin films between low-10 17 cm −3 and low-10 18 cm −3 was achieved. Under optimized growth condition, an (100) β-Ga 2 O 3 thin film with RMS roughness value of 1.64 nm and a RT mobility of 24 cm 2 /Vs at a carrier concentration of 7.0 × 10 17 cm −3 are demonstrated. The mobilities are primarily limited by the twin lamellae and stacking faults defects generated from the growth interface. Atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy reveals the formation of twin boundary defects in the films, resulting in the degradation of crystalline quality. Results from this work provide fundamental understanding of the MOCVD epitaxy of (100) β-Ga 2 O 3 on on-axis Ga 2 O 3 substrates and the dependence of the material properties on growth conditions. The limitation of electron transport properties of the (100) β-Ga 2 O 3 thin films below 25 cm 2 /Vs is attributed to the formation of incoherent boundaries (twin lamellae) and stacking faults grown along the on-axis (100) crystal orientation.more » « less
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/D1TC00682G
