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Background carbon incorporation and film cracking issue in (001) β-Ga2O3 films grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) are investigated. Quantitative secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis shows that increasing the O2 flow rate significantly reduces carbon concentration, suggesting the importance of optimizing the VI/III ratio and growth temperature to achieve low compensation and controllable doping in MOCVD of (001) Ga2O3 films. MOCVD growth of (001) β-Ga2O3 films with a film thickness of 25 μm at a growth rate of 10 μm/h is achieved. However, film cracking remains a persistent challenge. Reducing the growth rate by adjusting the trimethylgallium (TMGa) flow rate or increasing chamber pressure effectively suppresses cracking, but it results in slower growth rates. In addition, lower growth temperature and high chamber pressure can help suppressing surface reconstruction and reduce the formation of cracking. Buffer layers grown at 850 °C, 100 Torr, and 58 μmol/min of TMGa significantly improve surface morphology of drift layers. Moreover, the use of AlGaO buffer layers with 8% of Al and a thickness of ∼130 nm leads to a lower crack density. X-ray rocking curve analysis confirms high crystalline quality at a growth rate of 10 μm/h, with no degradation observed from the introduction of an AlGaO buffer layer. These optimized growth conditions effectively improve surface smoothness and minimize defects. Results from this work provide fundamental insights in MOCVD epitaxy of β-Ga2O3 on (001) Ga2O3 substrates, revealing the opportunities and challenges of MOCVD (001) β-Ga2O3 thin films with fast growth rates for high-power electronic device technology.
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Tutorial: Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition of β -Ga2O3 thin films, alloys, and heterostructures
β-phase gallium oxide (Ga2O3) is an emerging ultrawide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor with a bandgap energy of ∼ 4.8 eV and a predicted high critical electric field strength of ∼8 MV/cm, enabling promising applications in next generation high power electronics and deep ultraviolet optoelectronics. The advantages of Ga2O3 also stem from its availability of single crystal bulk native substrates synthesized from melt, and its well-controllable n-type doping from both bulk growth and thin film epitaxy. Among several thin film growth methods, metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) has been demonstrated as an enabling technology for developing high-quality epitaxy of Ga2O3 thin films, (AlxGa1−x)2O3 alloys, and heterostructures along various crystal orientations and with different phases. This tutorial summarizes the recent progresses in the epitaxial growth of β-Ga2O3 thin films via different growth methods, with a focus on the growth of Ga2O3 and its compositional alloys by MOCVD. The challenges for the epitaxial development of β-Ga2O3 are discussed, along with the opportunities of future works to enhance the state-of-the-art device performance based on this emerging UWBG semiconductor material system.
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- PAR ID:
- 10436050
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Applied Physics
- Volume:
- 133
- Issue:
- 21
- ISSN:
- 0021-8979
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0147787
