Electrical properties of p-type Zn:Ga₂O₃ thin films

Ultra-wide bandgap gallium oxide (∼5 eV) has emerged as a novel semiconductor platform for extending the current limits of power electronics and deep ultraviolet optoelectronics at a predicted fraction of cost. Finding effective acceptor dopant for gallium oxide is a hot issue. One element that quite often is considered as a potential candidate is zinc. A number of experimental works have reported the signature of Zn-acceptor, but the direct evidence of hole conductivity was missing. In this work, p-type Zn-doped Ga₂O₃ thin films were grown by the metal-organic chemical vapour deposition technique on sapphire substrates. By high-temperature Hall effect measurements, Zn related acceptor level ionization energy as 0.77 eV above the valence band maximum was determined. Additionally, we have carried out the simulation study regarding the application of the Zn:Ga₂O₃ semi-insulating material, to be used as a guard ring for improving the high voltage performance of the Schottky diode structure.