Development of gallium oxide power devices. Issue 1 (13th November 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Higashiwaki, Masataka; Sasaki, Kohei; Kuramata, Akito; Masui, Takekazu; Yamakoshi, Shigenobu
• Is Part Of: Physica status solidi. Volume 211:Issue 1(2014:Jan.)
• Page Start: 21
• Page End: 26
• Publication Date: 2013-11-13
• Subjects: Solid state physics -- Periodicals; Solids -- Industrial applications -- Periodicals; 530.41
• DOI: 10.1002/pssa.201330197
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1862-6300

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="pssa201330197-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <p>Gallium oxide (Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) is a strong contender for power electronic devices. The material possesses excellent properties such as a large bandgap of 4.7–4.9 eV for a high breakdown field of 8 MV cm<sup>−1</sup>. Low cost, high volume production of large single‐crystal β‐Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> substrates can be realized by melt‐growth methods commonly adopted in the industry. High‐quality n‐type Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> epitaxial thin films with controllable carrier densities were obtained by ozone molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). We fabricated Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> metal‐semiconductor field‐effect transistors (MESFETs) and Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) from single‐crystal Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> substrates and MBE‐grown epitaxial wafers. The MESFETs delivered excellent device performance including an off‐state breakdown voltage (<italic>V</italic><sub>br</sub>) of over 250 V, a low leakage current of only few μA mm<sup>−1</sup>, and a high drain current on/off ratio of about four orders of magnitude. The SBDs also showed good characteristics such as near‐unity ideality factors and high reverse <italic>V</italic><sub>br</sub>. These results indicate that Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> can potentially meet or even exceed the performance of Si and typical widegap semiconductors such as SiC or GaN for ultrahigh‐voltage power switching applications.</p> </sec> </abstract>