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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MOCVD growth of β-Ga2O3 with fast growth rates (>4.3 μ m/h), low controllable doping, and superior transport properties
Si-doped β-phase (010) Ga2O3 epi-films with fast growth rates were comprehensively investigated using trimethylgallium (TMGa) as the Ga precursor via metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Two main challenges facing the MOCVD growth of thick (010) β-Ga2O3 films with fast growth rates include high impurity carbon (C) incorporation and rough surface morphologies due to the formation of imbedded 3D pyramid-shaped structures. In this work, two different categories of oxygen source (high-purity O2 > 99.9999% and O2* with 10 ppm of [H2O]) were used for β-Ga2O3 MOCVD growth. Our study revealed that the size and density of the 3D defects in the β-Ga2O3 epi-films were significantly reduced when the O2* was used. In addition, the use of off-axis (010) Ga2O3 substrates with 2° off-cut angle leads to further reduction of defect formation in β-Ga2O3 with fast growth rates. To suppress C incorporation in MOCVD β-Ga2O3 grown with high TMGa flow rates, our findings indicate that high O2 (or O2*) flow rates are essential. Superior room temperature electron mobilities as high as 110–190 cm2/V·s were achieved for β-Ga2O3 grown using O2* (2000 sccm) with a growth rate of 4.5 μm/h (film thickness of 6.3 μm) within the doping range of 1.3 × 1018–7 × 1015 cm−3. The C incorporation is significantly suppressed from ∼1018 cm−3 to <5 × 1016 cm−3 ([C] detection limit) for β-Ga2O3 grown using high O2 (O2*) flow rate of 2000 sccm. Results from this work will provide guidance on developing high-quality, thick β-Ga2O3 films required for high power electronic devices with vertical configurations.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2231026
- PAR ID:
- 10628418
- Publisher / Repository:
- AIP
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Applied Physics Letters
- Volume:
- 125
- Issue:
- 24
- ISSN:
- 0003-6951
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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