X Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy was used to measure valence band offsets for Al 2 O 3 deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition on α -(Al x Ga 1-x ) 2 O 3 alloys over a wide range of Al contents, x, from 0.26–0.74, corresponding to a bandgap range from 5.8–7 eV. These alloys were grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition. The band alignments were type I (nested) at x <0.5, with valence band offsets 0.13 eV for x = 0.26 and x = 0.46. At higher Al contents, the band alignment was a staggered alignment, with valence band offsets of − 0.07 eV for x = 0.58 and −0.17 for x = 0.74, ie. negative valence band offsets in both cases. The conduction band offsets are also small at these high Al contents, being only 0.07 eV at x = 0.74. The wide bandgap of the α -(Al x Ga 1-x ) 2 O 3 alloys makes it difficult to find dielectrics with nested band alignments over the entire composition range.
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Al Composition Dependence of Band Offsets for SiO 2 on α-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3
Valence band offsets for SiO 2 deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition on α -(Al x Ga 1-x ) 2 O 3 alloys with x = 0.26–0.74 were measured by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. The samples were grown with a continuous composition spread to enable investigations of the band alignment as a function of the alloy composition. From measurement of the core levels in the alloys, the bandgaps were determined to range from 5.8 eV (x = 0.26) to 7 eV (x = 0.74). These are consistent with previous measurements by transmission spectroscopy. The valence band offsets of SiO 2 with these alloys of different composition were, respectively, were −1.2 eV for x = 0.26, −0.2 eV for x = 0.42, 0.2 eV for x = 0.58 and 0.4 eV for x = 0.74. All of these band offsets are too low for most device applications. Given the bandgap of the SiO 2 was 8.7 eV, this led to conduction band offsets of 4.1 eV (x = 0.26) to 1.3 eV (x = 0.74). The band alignments were of the desired nested configuration for x > 0.5, but at lower Al contents the conduction band offsets were negative, with a staggered band alignment. This shows the challenge of finding appropriate dielectrics for this ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor system.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1856662
- PAR ID:
- 10323118
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 2162-8769
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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