Addressing microstructural domain disorders within epitaxial β-Ga2O3 is critical for phase engineering and property improvement, whereas the associated evolution of β-Ga2O3 heteroepitaxial domains remains largely unexplored. In this Letter, we conducted a quantitative investigation of microstructural domains in (−201)-oriented epitaxial β-Ga2O3 films grown on (0001) sapphire using halide vapor-phase epitaxy technique with a β-(Al0.57Ga0.43)2O3 buffer layer. The distinct split of x-ray diffraction rocking curves for (−201) β-Ga2O3 grown below 950 °C was observed, indicative of domain tilt disorders. As quantitatively assessed by transmission electron microscopy, the domain tilt angle significantly decreases from 2.33° to 0.90° along the [132] zone axis and from 2.3° to 0.56° along the [010] zone axis, respectively, as the growth temperature is elevated from 850 to 1100 °C. The reduction in tilt disorders is accompanied by the decrease in in-plane domain twist. It indicates that the elimination of small-angle domain boundaries is energetically favorable at high growth temperature above 1000 °C. The quantitative investigation on the evolution of domain disorders in β-Ga2O3 shed light on the pathway to improve epitaxial quality for cutting-edge power electronic and optoelectronic device applications.
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18 March 2024
Research Article|
March 19 2024
Unraveling evolution of microstructural domains in the heteroepitaxy of β-Ga2O3 on sapphire
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(Ultra)Wide-bandgap Semiconductors for Extreme Environment Electronics
Mei Cui
;
Mei Cui
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
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Yijun Zhang;
Yijun Zhang
(Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
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Songhao Gu;
Songhao Gu
(Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
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Chongde Zhang;
Chongde Zhang
(Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Validation)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
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Fang-Fang Ren
;
Fang-Fang Ren
(Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Validation)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
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Dongming Tang
;
Dongming Tang
(Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project administration, Resources, Visualization)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
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Yi Yang;
Yi Yang
(Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Visualization)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
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Shulin Gu
;
Shulin Gu
(Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Supervision, Visualization)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
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Rong Zhang
;
Rong Zhang
(Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Supervision)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
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Jiandong Ye
Jiandong Ye
a)
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210023, China
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: yejd@nju.edu.cn
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a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: yejd@nju.edu.cn
Appl. Phys. Lett. 124, 122103 (2024)
Article history
Received:
December 16 2023
Accepted:
March 02 2024
Citation
Mei Cui, Yijun Zhang, Songhao Gu, Chongde Zhang, Fang-Fang Ren, Dongming Tang, Yi Yang, Shulin Gu, Rong Zhang, Jiandong Ye; Unraveling evolution of microstructural domains in the heteroepitaxy of β-Ga2O3 on sapphire. Appl. Phys. Lett. 18 March 2024; 124 (12): 122103. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0191831
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