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1. Impurity-hydrogen complexes in β-Ga2O3: Hydrogenation of shallow donors vs deep acceptors

   Venzie, Andrew ; Portoff, Amanda ; Perez Valenzuela, E. Celeste ; Stavola, Michael ; Fowler, W. Beall ; Glaser, Evan ( January 2022 , Journal of applied physics)

   Substitutional impurities in Ga2O3 are used to make the material n-type or semi-insulating. Several O-D vibrational lines for OD-impurity complexes that involve impurities that are shallow donors and deep acceptors have been reported recently. The present paper compares and contrasts the vibrational properties of complexes that involve shallow donors (OD-Si and OD-Ge) with complexes that involve deep acceptors (OD-Fe and OD-Mg). Complementary theory investigates the microscopic structures of defects that can explain the observed vibrational properties. 

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2. Classes of O–D centers in unintentionally and Fe-doped β-Ga2O3 annealed in a D2 ambient

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0160331  

   Portoff, Amanda ; Venzie, Andrew ; Stavola, Michael ; Fowler, W. Beall ; Glaser, Evan ; Pearton, Stephen J. ( July 2023 , Journal of Applied Physics)

   β-Ga2O3 has attracted much recent attention as a promising ultrawide bandgap semiconductor. Hydrogen can affect the conductivity of β-Ga2O3 through the introduction of shallow donors and the passivation of deep acceptors. The introduction of H or D into β-Ga2O3 by annealing in an H2 or D2 ambient at elevated temperature produces different classes of O–H or O–D centers. This work is a study of the interaction of D with VGa1 and VGa2 deep acceptors as well as other impurities and native defects in Ga2O3 by infrared spectroscopy and the complementary theory. (We focus primarily on the deuterium isotope of hydrogen because the vibrational modes of O–D centers can be detected with a higher signal-to-noise ratio than those of O–H.) O–D centers in β-Ga2O3 evolve upon annealing in an inert ambient and are transformed from one type of O–D center into another. These reactions affect the compensation of unintentional shallow donors by deep acceptors that are passivated by D. Defects involving additional impurities in β-Ga2O3 compete with VGa deep acceptors for D and modify the deuterium-related reactions that occur. The defect reactions that occur when D is introduced by annealing in a D2 ambient appear to be simpler than those observed for other introduction methods and provide a foundation for understanding the D-related reactions that can occur in more complicated situations. 

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3. The role of carbon and C-H neutralization in MOCVD β-Ga2O3 using TMGa as precursor

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0153626  

   Meng, Lingyu ; Bhuiyan, A F ; Zhao, Hongping ( June 2023 , Applied Physics Letters)

   In this Letter, the role of background carbon in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) β-Ga2O3 growth using trimethylgallium (TMGa) as the Ga precursor was investigated. The quantitative C and H incorporations in MOCVD β-Ga2O3 thin films grown at different growth rates and temperatures were measured via quantitative secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). The SIMS results revealed both [C] and [H] increase as the TMGa molar flow rate/growth rate increases or growth temperature decreases. The intentional Si incorporation in MOCVD β-Ga2O3 thin films decreases as the growth rate increases or the growth temperature decreases. For films grown at relatively fast growth rates (GRs) (TMGa > 58 μmol/min, GR > 2.8 μm/h) or relatively low temperature (<950 °C), the [C] increases faster than that of the [H]. The experimental results from this study demonstrate the previously predicted theory—H can effectively passivate the compensation effect of C in n-type β-Ga2O3. The extracted net doping concentration from quantitative SIMS {[Si]-([C]-[H])} agrees well with the free carrier concentration measured from Hall measurement. The revealing of the role of C compensation in MOCVD β-Ga2O3 and the effect of H incorporation will provide guidance on designing material synthesis for targeted device applications. 

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4. Hydrogen centers as a probe of VGa(2) defects in β -Ga2O3

   https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0138904  

   Portoff, Amanda ; Stavola, Michael ; Fowler, W. Beall ; Pearton, Stephen J. ; Glaser, Evan R. ( February 2023 , Applied Physics Letters)

   While a number of O-H and O-D vibrational lines have been observed for hydrogen and deuterium in β-Ga2O3, it has been commonly reported that there is no absorption with a component of the polarization E parallel to the [010], or b, axis. This experimental result has led to O-H defect structures that involve shifted configurations of a vacancy at the tetrahedrally coordinated Ga(1) site [VGa(1)] and have ruled out structures that involve a vacancy at the octahedrally coordinated Ga(2) site [VGa(2)], because these structures are predicted to show absorption for E//[010]. In this Letter, weak O-D lines at 2475 and 2493 cm−1 with a component of their polarization with E//[010] are reported for β-Ga2O3 that had been annealed in a D2 ambient. O-D defect structures involving an unshifted VGa(2) are proposed for these centers. An estimate is made that the concentration of VGa(2) in a Czochralski-grown sample is 2–3 orders of magnitude lower than that of VGa(1) from the intensities of the IR absorption lines.

    

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5. In-situ coating of silicon-rich films on tokamak plasma-facing components with real-time Si material injection

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/acee98  

   Effenberg, F. ; Abe, S. ; Sinclair, G. ; Abrams, T. ; Bortolon, A. ; Wampler, W. R. ; Laggner, F. M. ; Rudakov, D. L. ; Bykov, I. ; Lasnier, C. J. ; et al ( August 2023 , Nuclear Fusion)

   Experiments have been conducted in the DIII-D tokamak to explore thein-situgrowth of silicon-rich layers as a potential technique for real-time replenishment of surface coatings on plasma-facing components (PFCs) during steady-state long-pulse reactor operation. Silicon (Si) pellets of 1 mm diameter were injected into low- and high-confinement (L-mode and H-mode) plasma discharges with densities ranging from 3.9–$7.5\times {10}^{19}$m⁻³and input powers ranging from 5.5 to 9 MW. The small Si pellets were delivered with the impurity granule injector at frequencies ranging from 4 to 16 Hz corresponding to mass flow rates of 5–19 mg s⁻¹(1–$4.2\times {10}^{20}$Si s⁻¹) at cumulative amounts of up to 34 mg of Si per five-second discharge. Graphite samples were exposed to the scrape-off layer and private flux region plasmas through the divertor material evaluation system to evaluate the Si deposition on the divertor targets. The Si II emission at the sample correlates with silicon injection and suggests net surface Si-deposition in measurable amounts. Post-mortem analysis showed Si-rich coatings containing silicon oxides, of which SiO₂is the dominant component. No evidence of SiC was found, which is attributed to low divertor surface temperatures. Thein-situand ex-situ analysis found that Si-rich coatings of at least 0.4–1.2 nm thickness have been deposited at 0.4–0.7 nm s⁻¹. The technique is estimated to coat a surface area of at least 0.94 m²on the outer divertor. These results demonstrate the potential of using real-time material injection to form Si-enriched layers on divertor PFCs during reactor operation.

    

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