Chemical bonding, optical constants, and electrical resistivity of sputter-deposited gallium oxide thin films
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968 (United States)
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487 (United States)
- Research Institute, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio 45469 (United States)
Gallium oxide (Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3}) thin films were made by sputter deposition employing a Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3} ceramic target for sputtering. The depositions were made over a wide range of substrate temperatures (T{sub s}), from 25 to 600 °C. The effect of T{sub s} on the chemical bonding, surface morphological characteristics, optical constants, and electrical properties of the grown films was evaluated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), and four-point probe measurements. XPS analyses indicate the binding energies (BE) of the Ga 2p doublet, i.e., the Ga 2p{sub 3/2} and Ga 2p{sub 1/2} peaks, are located at 1118.0 and 1145.0 eV, respectively, characterizing gallium in its highest chemical oxidation state (Ga{sup 3+}) in the grown films. The core level XPS spectra of O 1s indicate that the peak is centered at a BE ∼ 531 eV, which is also characteristic of Ga-O bonds in the Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3} phase. The granular morphology of the nanocrystalline Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3} films was evident from AFM measurements, which also indicate that the surface roughness of the films increases from 0.5 nm to 3.0 nm with increasing T{sub s}. The SE analyses indicate that the index of refraction (n) of Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3} films increases with increasing T{sub s} due to improved structural quality and packing density of the films. The n(λ) of all the Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3} films follows the Cauchy's dispersion relation. The room temperature electrical resistivity was high (∼200 Ω-cm) for amorphous Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3} films grown at T{sub s} = RT-300 °C and decreased to ∼1 Ω-cm for nanocrystalline Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3} films grown at T{sub s} ≥ 500–600 °C. A correlation between growth conditions, microstructure, optical constants, and electrical properties of Ga{sub 2}O{sub 3} films is derived.
- OSTI ID:
- 22275645
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 4; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
BINDING ENERGY
CERAMICS
CHEMICAL BONDS
CORRELATIONS
CRYSTALS
DISPERSION RELATIONS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELLIPSOMETRY
GALLIUM IONS
GALLIUM OXIDES
MICROSTRUCTURE
MORPHOLOGY
NANOSTRUCTURES
REFRACTIVE INDEX
SPUTTERING
SURFACES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
THIN FILMS
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY