SpringerLink
Log in

Morphological and Electrical Properties of β-Ga2O3/4H-SiC Heterojunction Diodes

  • Original Article - Electronics, Magnetics and Photonics
  • Published:
Electronic Materials Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

ß-Ga2O3/4H-SiC heterojunction diodes were fabricated by depositing β-Ga2O3 thin films on 4H-SiC substrates using radio frequency sputtering. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed increased reflectivity of β-Ga2O3 (\(\overline{4 }\) 02), (\(\overline{2 }\) 02) and (\(\overline{6 }\) 03) crystal planes with optimized sputtering power. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were performed to confirm grain size and distribution. The Hall mobility (30.16 cm2/V \(\bullet\) s) and carrier concentration (3.14 \(\times\) 1014 cm–3) showed with large and homogeneous grain distribution thin films. For these thin films, mobility and carrier concentration value could improve up to 9% and 55%. The effect of these electrical characteristics was ascribed to reduction of the grain boundary scattering. The I–V characteristics along with Hall measurement of the heterojunction diode suggest that the improvement in the threshold voltage and current density is caused by a substantial enhancement in charge carrier mobility.

Graphic abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (Germany)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Yang, J., Ahn, S., Ren, F., Pearton, S.J., Jang, S., Kuramata, A.: High Breakdown Voltage (− 201) β-Ga2O3 Schottky Rectifiers. IEEE Electron Device Lett. 38(7), 906–909 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Jayawardena, G. Electronic characterization of technologically relevant interfaces on beta Gallium Oxide and 4H-SiC wide bandgap semiconductors. (2018).

  3. Oh, S., Yang, G., Kim, J.: Electrical characteristics of vertical Ni/β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes at high temperatures. ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology 6(2), Q3022 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kumar, S. S., Rubio, E. J., Noor-A-Alam, M., Martinez, G., Manandhar, S., Shutthanandan, V., & Ramana, C. V. Structure, morphology and optical properties of amorphous and nanocrystalline gallium oxide thin films. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 117(8), 4194–4200. (2013).

  5. Lee, Y.J., Schweitz, M.A., Oh, J.M., Koo, S.M.: Influence of Annealing Atmosphere on the Characteristics of Ga2O3/4H-SiC nn Heterojunction Diodes. Materials 13(2), 434 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Yao, Y., Gangireddy, R., Kim, J., Das, K.K., Davis, R.F., Porter, L.M.: Electrical behavior of β-Ga2O3 Schottky diodes with different Schottky metals. J. Vac. Sci. Technol., B: Nanotechnol. Microelectron.: Mater., Process., Meas., Phenom. 35(3), 03D113 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Wang, J., Ye, L., Wang, X., Zhang, H., Li, L., Kong, C., Li, W.: High transmittance β-Ga2O3 thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering and post-annealing for solar-blind ultraviolet photodetector. J. Alloy. Compd. 803, 9–15 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Liao, Y., Jiao, S., Li, S., Wang, J., Wang, D., Gao, S., & Li, H. Effect of deposition pressure on the structural and optical properties of Ga 2 O 3 films obtained by thermal post-crystallization. CrystEngComm. 20(1), 133–139. (2018).

  9. Farzana, E., Zhang, Z., Paul, P. K., Arehart, A. R., & Ringel, S. A. Influence of metal choice on (010) β-Ga2O3 Schottky diode properties. Applied Physics Letters. 110(20), 202102. (2017).

  10. Guo, D. Y., Wu, Z. P., An, Y. H., Guo, X. C., Chu, X. L., Sun, C. L., & Tang, W. H. Oxygen vacancy tuned Ohmic-Schottky conversion for enhanced performance in β-Ga2O3 solar-blind ultraviolet photodetectors. Applied Physics Letters. 105(2), 023507. (2014).

  11. Dong, L., Jia, R., **n, B., & Zhang, Y. Effects of post-annealing temperature and oxygen concentration during sputtering on the structural and optical properties of β-Ga2O3 films. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces and Films. 34(6), 060602. (2016).

  12. Zhang, H., Deng, J., Pan, Z., Bai, Z., Kong, L., Wang, J.: Structural and optical properties of Nb-doped β-Ga2O3 thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. Vacuum 146, 93–96 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Ishibashi, K., Aida, R., Takahara, M., Kudo, J., Tsunoda, I., Takakura, K., & Murakami, K. Investigation of the crystalline quality of a gallium oxide thick film grown by RF magnetron sputtering. physica status solidi (c). 10(11), 1588–1591. (2013).

  14. An, Y. H., Guo, D. Y., Li, S. Y., Wu, Z. P., Huang, Y. Q., Li, P. G., & Tang, W. H. Influence of oxygen vacancies on the photoresponse of β-Ga2O3/SiC n–n type heterojunctions. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. 49(28), 285111. (2016).

  15. Nakagomi, S., Momo, T., Takahashi, S., & Kokubun, Y. Deep ultraviolet photodiodes based on β-Ga2O3/SiC heterojunction. Applied Physics Letters. 103(7), 072105. (2013).

  16. Kong, W.Y., Wu, G.A., Wang, K.Y., Zhang, T.F., Zou, Y.F., Wang, D.D., Luo, L.B.: Graphene-β-Ga2O3 heterojunction for highly sensitive deep UV photodetector application. Adv. Mater. 28(48), 10725–10731 (2016)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Cho, M.Y., Lee, D.W., Ko, P.J., Koo, S.M., Kim, J., Choi, Y.K., Oh, J.M.: Adhesive mechanism of Al2O3/Cu composite film via aerosol deposition process for application of film resistor. Electron. Mater. Lett. 15(2), 227–237 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Zhang, K., Lee, T.H., Cha, J.H., Jang, H.W., Shokouhimehr, M., Choi, J.W.: S@ GO as a high-performance cathode material for rechargeable aluminum-ion batteries. Electron. Mater. Lett. 15(6), 720–726 (2019)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Marie, P., Portier, X., & Cardin, J. Growth and characterization of gallium oxide thin films by radiofrequency magnetron sputtering. physica status solidi (a). 205(8), 1943–1946 (2008).

  20. Kang, H.C.: Heteroepitaxial growth of multidomain Ga2O3/sapphire (001) thin films deposited using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Mater. Lett. 119, 123–126 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Nakagomi, S., Sakai, T., Kikuchi, K., & Kokubun, Y. β‐Ga2O3/p‐Type 4H‐SiC Heterojunction Diodes and Applications to Deep‐UV Photodiodes. physica status solidi (a). 216(5), 1700796. (2019).

  22. Xue, H., He, Q., Jian, G., Long, S., Pang, T., Liu, M.: An overview of the ultrawide bandgap Ga 2 O 3 semiconductor-based Schottky barrier diode for power electronics application. Nanoscale Res. Lett. 13(1), 290 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Yoder, M.N.: Wide bandgap semiconductor materials and devices. IEEE Trans. Electron Devices 43(10), 1633–1636 (1996)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Shin, M.C., Lee, Y.J., Kim, D.H., Jung, S.W., Schweitz, M.A., Shin, W.H., Oh, J.-M., Park, C., Koo, S.M.: Improved electrical characteristics of gallium oxide/P-Epi silicon carbide static iunduction transistors with UV/ozone treatment fabricated by RF Sputter. Materials 14(5), 1296 (2021)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Li, S., Jiao, S., Wang, D., Gao, S., Wang, J.: The influence of sputtering power on the structural, morphological and optical properties of β-Ga2O3 thin films. J. Alloy. Compd. 753, 186–191 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Kwon, J.H., Kim, D.Y., Kim, K.S., Hwang, N.M.: Preparation of highly (002) oriented Ti films on a floating Si (100) substrate by RF magnetron sputtering. Electron. Mater. Lett. 16(1), 14–21 (2020)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Um, J., Roh, B.M., Kim, S., Kim, S.E.: Effect of RF Power on SnO Thin Films Obtained by Sputtering. J. Korean Ceram. Soc. 49(5), 399 (2012)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Lu, Y.M., Hwang, W.S., Liu, W.Y., Yang, J.S.: Effect of RF power on optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin film by magnetron sputtering. Mater. Chem. Phys. 72(2), 269–272 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Woo, T.G., Park, I.S., Jung, K.H., Jeon, W.Y., Seol, K.W.: Effect of RF sputtering power on the adhesion of Ni thin film to polyimide. Electron. Mater. Lett. 7(4), 353–358 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Assuncao, V., Fortunato, E., Marques, A., Goncalves, A., Ferreira, I., Aguas, H., Martins, R.: New challenges on gallium-doped zinc oxide films prepared by rf magnetron sputtering. Thin Solid Films 442(1–2), 102–106 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Toko, K., Yoshimine, R., Moto, K., Suemasu, T.: High-hole mobility polycrystalline Ge on an insulator formed by controlling precursor atomic density for solid-phase crystallization. Sci. Rep. 7(1), 1–7 (2017)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Kim, B.H., Staller, C.M., Cho, S.H., Heo, S., Garrison, C.E., Kim, J., Milliron, D.J.: High mobility in nanocrystal-based transparent conducting oxide thin films. ACS Nano 12(4), 3200–3208 (2018)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Bhuvana, K.P., Elanchezhiyan, J., Gopalakrishnan, N., Balasubramanian, T.: Influence of grain size on the properties of AlN doped ZnO thin film. Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 14(1), 84–88 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Look, D.C., Mosbacker, H.L., Strzhemechny, Y.M., Brillson, L.J.: Effects of surface conduction on Hall-effect measurements in ZnO. Superlattices Microstruct. 38(4–6), 406–412 (2005)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the NRF (2018R1D1A1B07047515), the Technology Innovation Program (20016093) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea), and a Research Grant from Kwangwoon University in 2021.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic Materials Engineering, Kwangwoon University, 20 Kwangwoon-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul, 01897, Republic of Korea

    Dong-Wook Byun, Young-Jae Lee, Jong-Min Oh, Michael A. Schweitz & Sang-Mo Koo

Authors
  1. Dong-Wook Byun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Young-Jae Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jong-Min Oh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Michael A. Schweitz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sang-Mo Koo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sang-Mo Koo.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Byun, DW., Lee, YJ., Oh, JM. et al. Morphological and Electrical Properties of β-Ga2O3/4H-SiC Heterojunction Diodes. Electron. Mater. Lett. 17, 479–484 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-021-00297-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13391-021-00297-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation