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.
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Si doping in MOCVD grown (010) β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 thin films
In this work, the structural and electrical properties of metalorganic chemical vapor deposited Si-doped β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 thin films grown on (010) β-Ga 2 O 3 substrates are investigated as a function of Al composition. The room temperature Hall mobility of 101 cm 2 /V s and low temperature peak mobility (T = 65 K) of 1157 cm 2 /V s at carrier concentrations of 6.56 × 10 17 and 2.30 × 10 17 cm −3 are measured from 6% Al composition samples, respectively. The quantitative secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) characterization reveals a strong dependence of Si and other unintentional impurities, such as C, H, and Cl concentrations in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 thin films, with different Al compositions. Higher Al compositions in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 result in lower net carrier concentrations due to the reduction of Si incorporation efficiency and the increase of C and H impurity levels that act as compensating acceptors in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films. Lowering the growth chamber pressure reduces Si concentrations in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films due to the increase of Al compositions as evidenced by comprehensive SIMS and Hall characterizations. Due to the increase of lattice mismatch between the epifilm and substrate, higher Al compositions lead to cracking in β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films grown on β-Ga 2 O 3 substrates. The (100) cleavage plane is identified as a major cracking plane limiting the growth of high-quality Si-doped (010) β-(Al x Ga 1−x ) 2 O 3 films beyond the critical thicknesses, which leads to highly anisotropic and inhomogeneous behaviors in terms of conductivity.
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- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10343517
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Volume:
- 131
- Issue:
- 14
- ISSN:
- 0021-8979
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 145301
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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A new record‐high room‐temperature electron Hall mobility (
μ RT = 194 cm2 V−1 s−1atn ≈ 8 × 1015 cm−3) for β‐Ga2O3is demonstrated in the unintentionally doped thin film grown on (010) semi‐insulating substrate via metal‐organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). A peak electron mobility of ≈9500 cm2 V−1 s−1is achieved at 45 K. Further investigation on the transport properties indicates the existence of sheet charges near the epilayer/substrate interface. Si is identified as the primary contributor to the background carrier in both the epilayer and the interface, originating from both surface contamination and growth environment. The pregrowth hydrofluoric acid cleaning of the substrate leads to an obvious decrease in Si impurity both at the interface and in the epilayer. In addition, the effect of the MOCVD growth condition, particularly the chamber pressure, on the Si impurity incorporation is studied. A positive correlation between the background charge concentration and the MOCVD growth pressure is confirmed. It is noteworthy that in a β‐Ga2O3film with very low bulk charge concentration, even a reduced sheet charge density plays an important role in the charge transport properties. -
We report the use of suboxide molecular-beam epitaxy ( S-MBE) to grow β-Ga 2 O 3 at a growth rate of ∼1 µm/h with control of the silicon doping concentration from 5 × 10 16 to 10 19 cm −3 . In S-MBE, pre-oxidized gallium in the form of a molecular beam that is 99.98% Ga 2 O, i.e., gallium suboxide, is supplied. Directly supplying Ga 2 O to the growth surface bypasses the rate-limiting first step of the two-step reaction mechanism involved in the growth of β-Ga 2 O 3 by conventional MBE. As a result, a growth rate of ∼1 µm/h is readily achieved at a relatively low growth temperature ( T sub ≈ 525 °C), resulting in films with high structural perfection and smooth surfaces (rms roughness of <2 nm on ∼1 µm thick films). Silicon-containing oxide sources (SiO and SiO 2 ) producing an SiO suboxide molecular beam are used to dope the β-Ga 2 O 3 layers. Temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements on a 1 µm thick film with a mobile carrier concentration of 2.7 × 10 17 cm −3 reveal a room-temperature mobility of 124 cm 2 V −1 s −1 that increases to 627 cm 2 V −1 s −1 at 76 K; the silicon dopants are found to exhibit an activation energy of 27 meV. We also demonstrate working metal–semiconductor field-effect transistors made from these silicon-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 films grown by S-MBE at growth rates of ∼1 µm/h.more » « less
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Obtaining uniform silicon concentration, especially with low concentrations (ranging from 1 × 1016 to 1 × 1018 cm−3) by molecular beam epitaxy, has been challenging due to oxidation of a silicon solid source in the oxide environment. In this work, Si doping of β-Ga2O3 (010) films by diluted disilane as the Si source is investigated using hybrid plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The impact of growth temperature, disilane source concentration, and disilane flow rate on Si incorporation was studied by secondary ion mass spectrometry. Uniform Si concentrations ranging from 3 × 1016 to 2 × 1019 cm−3 are demonstrated. Si-doped β-Ga2O3 films with different silicon concentrations were grown on Fe-doped β-Ga2O3 (010) substrates. The electron concentration and mobility were determined using van de Pauw Hall measurements. A high mobility of 135 cm2/V s was measured for an electron concentration of 3.4 × 1017 cm−3 at room temperature.
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Growths of monoclinic (Al
x Ga1−x )2O3thin films up to 99% Al contents are demonstrated via metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using trimethylgallium (TMGa) as the Ga precursor. The utilization of TMGa, rather than triethylgallium, enables a significant improvement of the growth rates (>2.5 μm h−1) of β‐(Alx Ga1−x )2O3thin films on (010), (100), and (01) β‐Ga2O3substrates. By systematically tuning the precursor molar flow rates, growth of coherently strained phase pure β‐(Alx Ga1−x )2O3films is demonstrated by comprehensive material characterizations via high‐resolution X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic‐resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) imaging. Monoclinic (Alx Ga1−x )2O3films with Al contents up to 99, 29, and 16% are achieved on (100), (010), and (01) β‐Ga2O3substrates, respectively. Beyond 29% of Al incorporation, the (010) (Alx Ga1−x )2O3films exhibit β‐ to γ‐phase segregation. β‐(Alx Ga1−x )2O3films grown on (01) β‐Ga2O3show local segregation of Al along (100) plane. Record‐high Al incorporations up to 99% in monoclinic (Alx Ga1−x )2O3grown on (100) Ga2O3are confirmed from XRD, STEM, electron nanodiffraction, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. These results indicate great promises of MOCVD development of β‐(Alx Ga1−x )2O3films and heterostructures with high Al content and growth rates using TMGa for next‐generation high‐power and high‐frequency electronic devices.
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0084062
