Gallium oxide as an ultra-wide band gap semiconductor can exist in five different polymorphs – α, β, γ, κ, and ε – with different crystal structures and slightly different band gaps in the range of 4.6-5.3 eV.[1] The β-Ga₂O₃ is the most stable and most widely studied phase with intrinsic solar-blindness, band gap of 4.8 eV, high chemical and thermal stability, high breakdown voltage and high radiation hardness. Most of the existing literature have reported the fabrication of crystalline β-Ga₂O₃ at elevated temperatures (> 300°C) with no report on room temperature crystallization of gallium oxide.[2, 3] The material is either grown at a high temperature or it is annealed for achieving crystallization. The room temperature growth of gallium oxide is often reported to be amorphous in nature.

Herein, we report the formation of good quality polycrystalline β-Ga₂O₃ on c-plane sapphire at room temperature via RF Magnetron Sputtering. Grazing incidence X-ray Diffraction scans in the θ-2θ mode shows the peaks corresponding to the formation of polycrystalline peaks of β-Ga₂O₃. There is a shift in the peaks implying a strain in the films. Atomic Force Probe microscopy images reveal the formation of large grains which might be the cause of the strain in the films grown at room temperature. As a simple proof of concept, a photodetector with interdigitated Au electrodes was fabricated which showed a low dark current (~ 8 nA at +5 V) and a two order of magnitude (~ 0.46 µA at +5 V) enhancement upon 254 nm illumination.

References:

[1] D. Kaur, M. Kumar, A Strategic Review on Gallium Oxide Based Deep-Ultraviolet Photodetectors: Recent Progress and Future Prospects, Advanced Optical Materials, 9 (2021) 2002160.

[2] D. Kaur, S. Debata, D. Pratap Singh, M. Kumar, Strain effects on the optoelectronic performance of ultra-wide band gap polycrystalline β-Ga2O3 thin film grown on differently-oriented Silicon substrates for solar blind photodetector, Applied Surface Science, 616 (2023) 156446.

[3] K. Arora, N. Goel, M. Kumar, M. Kumar, Ultrahigh Performance of Self-Powered β-Ga2O3 Thin Film Solar-Blind Photodetector Grown on Cost-Effective Si Substrate Using High-Temperature Seed Layer, ACS Photonics, 5 (2018) 2391-2401.

Among the ultrawide bandgap materials, Ga₂O₃ is expected to surpass the trade-off relationship between breakdown (BV) and on resistance (R_on,sp). However, the Ga₂O₃ vertical Schottky barrier diode (SBD) still cannot achieve the theoretical breakdown electric field. To improve electric field management, device designs incorporating field rings, junction termination extension, field plates, and mesa structure could be used to reduce the leakage current in the reverse bias state. The edge termination technique has been demonstrated to extend the breakdown voltage close to the ideal value that is determined by the material properties.[1] Fabricating mesa structures for edge termination can introduce defects and charge traps. Deep level traps can negatively affect the performance of devices by trapping charge carriers, resulting in reduced minority carrier lifetime and increased leakage current.

Here, we analyzed the characteristics of Ga₂O₃ SBDs with and without the mesa structure. The SBDs were fabricated on Si-doped β-Ga₂O₃ grown by halide vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) on a Sn-doped (6x10¹⁸ cm^-3) (001) β-Ga₂O₃ substrate. In the SBD with mesa structure, the circular mesa with a diameter of 162 μm and a depth of 500 nm was formed around anode electrodes. The Ti/Au metal stack on the polished back side of the substrate acted as a cathode while Ni/Au/Pt layers on the epitaxy acted as the anode electrode. After the fabrication process, current-voltage (I-V) measurements were performed as shown in Figure 1a. From the results, the R_on,sp at 1 V are 6.9 Ω•cm² and 7.9 Ω•cm² in planar and mesa SBDs, respectively. In addition, the leakage current at -165 V is reduced by approximately 99.9% in the mesa structure. Figure 1 (b) shows the reverse bias characteristics of the SBDs, where the SBDs with mesa structure have approximately 2.75 times higher BV than SBDs without a mesa structure. Deep level defects were investigated by deep level transient spectroscopy (DLTS), and the SBDs with different structure have similar trap energy levels shown in Figure 2. In general, the trap density is larger in the SBD with mesa structures, however, the trap near the 3.0 eV is only detected for the SBD without the mesa structure and this defect is related to surface contamination. [2] Furthermore, we will extend the study by performing the cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy to get radiative defect information of the SBDs which could be related to the DLTS results. We will discuss these results in light of the enhanced electrical performance of SBDs with mesa structures.

Meticulous preparation of substrates – in particular chemical mechanical polishing – is vital to many subsequent processes such as epitaxial growth, device fabrication and wafer bonding. After slicing substrates from boules, the rough substrates require lapping and polishing to achieve surfaces for epitaxial growth. However, lapping and aggressive polishing introduce sub-surface damage even if smooth surfaces are achieved.¹ Sub-surface damage manifests itself as lattice distortions such as tilt and strain, as well as generation of extended defects. The lattice distortions can be assessed using X-ray diffraction along different scanning axes. Previous work has been done to optimize polishing parameters to simultaneously achieve smooth (< 0.5 nm rms roughness) and subsurface-damage-free substrates.² Interestingly, it was found that the damage induced by wafer slicing was not only predominately lattice tilt, but the tilt was preferentially oriented along the [100] crystallographic axis. In this current work, we investigate the evolution of sub-surface damage of Czochralski-grown (010) β-Ga₂O₃ wafers that have undergone various preparation stages: wire sawn surfaces, lapping, and final polished surfaces. Multiple asymmetric reciprocal space maps (RSM) in the glancing incidence geometry were measured along different zone axes to deconvolve the contributions of lattice tilt and strain from sub-surface damage. For the wire sawn rough surface, the (420) RSM shows ~2.4× higher broadening along the ω-scanning axis, which is an indication that the nature of lattice distortion is predominately lattice tilt. Furthermore, this broadening was asymmetrical, which is an indication that the lattice tilt is anisotropic and could be related to the anisotropic elastic properties for various β-Ga₂O₃crystal planes. This was in contrast to the polished sample, where the distortion due to tilt was mostly removed, and there exists significantly reduced residual strain, indicated by small broadening in the ω:2θ scanning axis. These results are analyzed using the theoretical calculations of β-Ga₂O₃ elastic properties³ to obtain insight on its unusual response to mechanical deformation during the wafer slicing and lapping process.

This research was performed while M.E.L. held an NRC Research Associateship award at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

References

1. S. Hayashi, et al., ECS Trans., 16(8), 295 (2008).

2. M.E. Liao, et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 41, 013205 (2023).

3. S. Poncé, et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 033102 (2020).

We report on ‘in-situ’ MOCVD Ga etching using the metal organic Ga precursor triethylgallium (TEGa) and the in-plane anisotropy of the etch characteristics. Etch rates exceeding 8μm/hr is demonstrated at high TEGa flow rates and a substrate temperature >900°C. Significant in-plane anisotropy in etching is observed on (010) β-Ga₂O₃ samples with trenches formed along [001] direction showing the smoothest sidewalls.

Many promising device structures used in Ga₂O₃, like trench SBDs, trench MOSFETs, FinFETs etc require fabrication of 3-D structures like fins and trenches. Several etch techniques have been reported, including ICP-RIE, wet etching and metal assisted chemical etching. However, most of these techniques result in angled sidewalls and surface damage. Previously, exposure to metallic Ga was shown as a promising technique for etching Ga₂O₃, using the suboxide reaction 4Ga (s)+ Ga₂O₃ (s)—>3Ga₂O(g). In this work, we show that the suboxide reaction can also proceed by using TEGa as the Ga source with the Ga₂O₃ samples held at high temperature inside an MOCVD reactor.

The etching experiments were carried out in an Agnitron Agilis 100 MOCVD oxide reactor with a far injection showerhead. The variation in etch rate as a function of substrate temperature and TEGa flow rate was studied. Etch rate increases with substrate temperature till 900°C, above which no significant increase is observed. The etch rate also increases linearly with TEGa flow rate, eventually saturating at high flow rates. At T_sub=900°C and 1000°C, etch rates exceeding 8μm/hr is obtained, making it possible to fabricate deep trenches and high ASR 3-D structures. We also investigated in-plane anisotropy by using spoke wheel structures patterned on (010) β-Ga₂O₃ substrate (see Fig.2). The spoke wheel structure was etched at T_sub=800°C and TEGa flow rate of 12.1μmol/min to vertical etch depth of 2.5μm. In addition to vertical etching, lateral etching of the trenches was also observed, resulting in widening of the final trench widths. Using the final and initial trench widths, the ratio of lateral to a vertical etch rate was measured for various in-plane orientations on (010) β-Ga₂O₃. The lateral etch rate was found to be lowest for trenches oriented in the [001] direction (forms (100) sidewalls) and highest for fins oriented in the [102] directions (forms (-201) sidewalls). The trenches were also found to have vertical sidewalls which are ideal for fabricating sub-micron structures. The trench sidewalls along most orientations were found to be rough, however smooth sidewalls are obtained along [001] direction.

Despite the promising properties of β-Ga₂O₃ for kV radio frequency (RF) applications, such as the large bandgap and critical electric field, decent carrier mobility, and availability of native substrates via many melt-growth techniques, Ga₂O₃ faces similar challenges to many wide bandgap semiconductors. Namely, the low electron affinity associated with the wide bandgap leads to few low work-function metals to form ohmic metal-semiconductor junctions. Instead, Ga₂O₃ relies on tunnel junctions between a metal and heavily doped regions for ohmic behavior. However, the reliable formation of such junctions is non-trivial.

In order to enable high speed device applications, the parasitic resistance from the contacts R_c should be much less than 1 Ω-mm. In this work, we demonstrate ohmic contacts well below this threshold both for ion-implanted and metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) grown heavily doped (N_d > 1E19 cm^-3) Ga₂O₃. We also show the resultant R_c can depend on subtle differences in Ga₂O₃ surface properties.

Ion-implanted samples were prepared by implanting Si into a 400 nm unintentionally doped epitaxial layer grown on an Fe-doped (010) β-Ga₂O₃ substrate to a box concentration of 5x10¹⁹ cm^-3 over 100 nm, activated by a 20 minute anneal at 950 °C in dry UHP nitrogen. Transfer length method (TLM) patterns were then formed with Ti/Al/Ni (50/100/60 nm) ohmic contacts. The contacts were then alloyed by a series of rapid thermal anneals (RTA) in nitrogen ambient. The resulting TLM patterns had an R_c of 0.16±0.01 Ω-mm, and a sheet resistance R_sh of 237±2 Ω/□.

Heavily doped samples were also grown on Fe-doped (010) β-Ga₂O₃ via MOCVD, with in situ Si doping to a nominal concentration of 9x10¹⁹ cm^-3 and a thickness of 150 nm. TLM patterns were made with Ti/Au (50/110 nm) contacts, and compared before and after post-contact deposition RTA. On some MOCVD samples, the unalloyed contacts show an extremely leaky Schottky behavior, with a measured R_c of 0.35±0.002 Ω-mm and an R_sh of 55±1 Ω/□ at a current bias of 50 mA. On others, the unalloyed contacts show a highly rectifying behavior. These also become ohmic post annealing; however, the resultant contacts were found to be extremely non-uniform spatially. We currently ascribe these abnormal contacts to the formation of a spatially non-uniform interfacial layer on the Ga2O3 surface. While these results demonstrate the attainability of low R_c, future efforts will be needed to carefully control the surface properties to reliably achieve low R_c and apply these contacts to the moderately doped channels desired for kV RF applications.

Adetayo Victor Adedeji¹, Jacob Lawson², Charles Ebbing², J. Neil Merrett³

¹ Elizabeth City State University, ² University of Dayton Research Institute, ³ Air Force Research Laboratory

Ultra-thin layer (~ 4 nm) of Fe-doped ß-Ga₂O₃ was deposited by co-sputtering pure Ga₂O₃ and Fe targets on (010) n+ Sn-doped Ga₂O₃ epilayer grown by Halide Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) on Si-doped ß-Ga₂O₃ substrates. The HVPE epilayer was about 4.5 mm thick and 2E16 cm^-3 doping concentration. The ultra-thin insulating layer was deposited at 600°C substrate temperature for 10 minutes in Ar/O₂ gas mixtures (5% O₂ by flow rate). 100W RF power was applied to the Ga₂O₃ target while the dopant target was sputtered with 9W DC power. Circular Ti contacts were deposited on a 5 mm x 5 mm sample by photolithography and magnetron sputtering. The sample was annealed in argon flow at 400°C after contact metallization. The I-V characteristics of the Schottky diodes showed that the reverse current of samples with ultra-thin Fe-doped ß-Ga₂O₃ is more that five orders of magnitude lower than samples without the ultra-thin layer while the forward current dropped by about one order of magnitude. Appreciable forward bias tunneling current was achieved with much lower reverse current compared with samples without insulating nanolayer. It has been demonstrated that this technique can be used to tune the barrier height of Schottky contacts to ß-Ga₂O₃. Such low leakage contacts can be useful in improving the performance of metal-semiconductor gates in MESFETs or in reducing the edge leakage of Schottky power diodes.

The fabrication of power devices that approach the β-Ga₂O₃ unipolar-FOM limit requires the use of field-management and RESURF techniques.¹ Utilizing dry etch processes for these techniques results in defect formation, which can impact the performance of devices.² Recently, Yuewei et al. used a wagon wheel pattern to explore the anisotropic etching behavior of (010) β-Ga₂O₃ in heated H₃PO₄. Compared to (010) β-Ga₂O₃, the (001) orientation is a better candidate for vertical power devices due to improved substrate scalability and slightly higher

PECVD was used to blanket deposit 533 nm of SiO₂ on Ga₂O₃. A wagon wheel pattern with 25 μm spoke widths was defined using photolithography. The spokes oriented along the [100] and [010] directions were carefully aligned to the edges of the substrates, which correspond to the (100) and (010) planes, respectively. Photoresist served as a mask to protect the SiO₂ during an HF etch. The SiO₂ etch rate was determined using Si substrates that were coloaded in the PECVD with the Ga₂O₃ substrate. Next, the sample was placed in a H₃PO₄/H₂O solution for 3.2 hours at a temperature of 140°C. The temperature was monitored and controlled using a temperature probe. The etch depth was determined via profilometry. Afterward, the sample was characterized via SEM.

Figure 1 shows an SEM image of the wagon wheel post-etch. The SiO₂ mask protecting the top of the spokes is still intact. Figure 2 shows a profile of the wagon wheel after etching. Assuming no significant SiO₂ etching², the (001) etch rate is 781 nm/hr. Figure 3 shows a 60°-tilted SEM image of a spoke oriented along the [-100] direction. An undercut of the SiO₂ mask can be observed. Since (010) is a mirror plane in β-Ga₂O₃, the spoke is symmetric about the (010) plane. Figure 4 shows the sidewall angles for the wagon wheel spokes. For spokes with an orientation in a positive k-direction, the right-hand sidewalls of the spokes were smooth and had low inclination angles and the left-hand sidewall exhibited roughness with a steeper inclination angle. The opposite was true for spokes oriented in the negative k-direction. This is another consequence of the mirror plane symmetry. The roughness could be the result of rough SiO_2­ mask sidewalls. These findings can be useful for the development of dry-etch free process flows for high-performance devices.

¹ Li, Wenshen, et al. "1230 V β-Ga2O3 trench Schottky barrier diodes with an ultra-low leakage current of<1 μA/cm²." Applied Physics Letters 113.20 (2018): 202101.

² Zhang, Yuewei, Akhil Mauze, and James S. Speck. "Anisotropic etching of β-Ga₂O₃ using hot phosphoric acid." Applied Physics Letters 115.1 (2019): 013501.

The most common metalized substrates used in high-power switching packages consist of a ceramic layer such as Aluminum Nitride (AlN) sandwiched between two copper layers. Ceramic substrates are used because it has the key characteristic of having high dielectric strength while being thermally conductive. A large drawback to ceramic substrates is that they do not allow for a multi-layered circuit design. By replacing the traditional ceramic substrate with organic direct bonded copper (ODBC) we can open a wide range of possibilities when it comes to power module layout such as multi-layered circuits and double-sided cooling. Both benefits are critical while packaging high-performance Gallium Oxide (Ga₂O₃) MOSFETs. Because of Ga₂O₃’s relatively poor thermal conductivity, a double-sided cooled package becomes necessary. Therefore, the use of ODBC provides the flexibility to fabricate copper traces carrying much higher currents, and by creating a multi-layered package, we can drastically reduce the parasitic inductance inside the power module. Achieving lower parasitic inductance is critical for an ultra-fast Ga₂O₃ package to avoid excessive voltage overshoot and ringing. Using ODBC, we have designed novel packages capable of handling the challenges presented by fast Ga₂O₃ switching. Using multi-physics modeling software, we can validate our design before building the prototype. Due to the simple process parameters needed to work with ODBC, we can rapidly create prototypes without using external vendors. This flexibility allows us to quickly design, build, and validate highly complex switching power modules to accommodate next generation, Ga₂O₃ switching devices.