Alloyed B-(AlxGa1-x)2O3 bulk Czochralski single B-(Al0.1Ga0.9)2O3 and polycrystals B-(Al0.33Ga0.66)2O3, B-(Al0.5Ga0.5)2O3), and property trends

TL;DR

This study investigates how alloying B-Ga2O3 with aluminum affects its structural, optical, and electrical properties, revealing trends in lattice parameters, site preferences, and resistivity with varying Al content.

Contribution

It provides comprehensive characterization of B-(AlxGa1-x)2O3 alloys across different compositions, highlighting property trends and the impact of Al incorporation on structure and electronic behavior.

Findings

Lattice parameters increase linearly with Al content.

Aluminum prefers octahedral sites and causes disorder at higher concentrations.

High resistivity is due to deepening of hydrogen-related levels, not impurity compensation.

Abstract

In this work, bulk Czochralski-grown single crystals of 10 mol. % Al2O3 alloyed B-Ga2O3 - monoclinic 10% AGO or B-(Al0.1Ga0.9)2O3 - are obtained, which show +0.20 eV increase in the bandgap compared with unintentionally doped B-Ga2O3. Further, growths of 33% AGO - B-(Al0.33Ga0.67)2O3 - and 50% AGO - B-(Al0.5Ga0.5)2O3 or B-AlGaO3 - produce polycrystalline single-phase monoclinic material (B-AGO). All three compositions are investigated by x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, optical absorption, and 27Al nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). By investigating single phase B-AGO over a large range of Al2O3 concentrations (10 - 50 mol. %), broad trends in the lattice parameter, vibrational modes, optical bandgap, and crystallographic site preference are determined. All lattice parameters show a linear trend with Al incorporation. According to NMR, aluminum incorporates on both crystallographic sites of B-Ga2O3, with a slight preference for the octahedral (GaII) site, which becomes more disordered with increasing Al. Single crystals of 10% AGO were also characterized by x-ray rocking curve, transmission electron microscopy, purity (glow discharge mass spectroscopy and x-ray fluorescence), optical transmission (200 nm - 20 um wavelengths), and resistivity. These measurements suggest that electrical compensation by impurity acceptor doping is not the likely explanation for high resistivity, but rather the shift of a hydrogen level from a shallow donor to a deep acceptor due to Al alloying. .. Cont. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 131 155702.