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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.
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Fully Transparent Epitaxial Oxide Thin‐Film Transistor Fabricated at Back‐End‐of‐Line Temperature by Suboxide Molecular‐Beam Epitaxy
Abstract Transparent oxide thin film transistors (TFTs) are an important ingredient of transparent electronics. Their fabrication at the back‐end‐of‐line (BEOL) opens the door to novel strategies to more closely integrate logic with memory for data‐intensive computing architectures that overcome the scaling challenges of today's integrated circuits. A recently developed variant of molecular‐beam epitaxy (MBE) called suboxide MBE (S‐MBE) is demonstrated to be capable of growing epitaxial In2O3at BEOL temperatures with unmatched crystal quality. The fullwidth at halfmaximum of the rocking curve is 0.015° and, thus, ≈5x narrower than any reports at any temperature to date and limited by the substrate quality. The key to achieving these results is the provision of an In2O beam by S‐MBE, which enables growth in adsorption control and is kinetically favorable. To benchmark this deposition method for TFTs, rudimentary devices were fabricated.
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- PAR ID:
- 10548183
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Online Library
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Electronic Materials
- ISSN:
- 2199-160X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202400499
