Native defects association enabled room-temperature p-type conductivity in β-Ga2O3

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds 2023-12, Vol.969, p.172454, Article 172454
• Main Authors: Chi, Zeyu, Sartel, Corinne, Zheng, Yunlin, Modak, Sushrut, Chernyak, Leonid, Schaefer, Christian M., Padilla, Jessica, Santiso, Jose, Ruzin, Arie, Gonçalves, Anne-Marie, von Bardeleben, Jurgen, Guillot, Gérard, Dumont, Yves, Pérez-Tomás, Amador, Chikoidze, Ekaterine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electronic properties; Physics; Point defect; Ultra-wide band gap semiconductor; β-Ga2O3
• ISSN: 0925-8388; 1873-4669
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2023.172454

The room temperature hole conductivity of the ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor β-Ga2O3 is a pre-requisite for developing the next-generation electronic and optoelectronic devices based on this oxide. In this work, high-quality p-type β-Ga2O3 thin films grown on r-plane sapphire substrate by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) exhibit ρ = 5 × 104 Ω·cm resistivity at room temperature. A low activation energy of conductivity as Ea2 = 170 ± 2 meV was determined, associated to the VO++−VGa−native acceptor defect complex. Further, taking advantage of cation (Zn) doping, the conductivity of Ga2O3:Zn film was remarkably increased by three orders of magnitude, showing a long-time stable room-temperature hole conductivity with the conductivity activation energy of around 86 meV. VO++−ZnGa− defect complex has been proposed as a corresponding shallow acceptor. •a first detailed X-ray diffraction study for β-Ga2O3 /r-plane sapphire substrate.•p-type conductivity at room-temperature in β-Ga2O3 thin films.•Native defect association as a shallow acceptor centre.