Cr2O3/\b{eta}-Ga2O3 Heterojunction Diodes with Orientation-Dependent Breakdown Electric Field up to 12.9 MV/cm

TL;DR

This study demonstrates orientation-dependent breakdown electric fields in Cr2O3/eta;-Ga2O3 heterojunction diodes, achieving record high electric field handling up to 12.9 MV/cm, guiding orientation selection for high-performance gallium oxide devices.

Contribution

First demonstration of orientation-dependent breakdown electric fields in eta;-Ga2O3 heterojunction diodes with record high electric field up to 12.9 MV/cm, using reactive sputtering and first-principles calculations.

Findings

Heterojunction diodes on (110) orientation exhibit breakdown fields >10 MV/cm.

Distinct breakdown electric fields observed across different orientations.

Orientation dependence validated for low-symmetry monoclinic eta;-Ga2O3.

Abstract

We report the fabrication of Cr2O3/\b{eta}-Ga2O3 heterojunction diodes using reactive magnetron sputtering of Cr2O3 on highly doped \b{eta}-Ga2O3 bulk substrates along (100), (010), (001), (110), and (011) orientation dependence of high electric field handling capability in \b{eta}-Ga2O3. Additional relative permittivity values in (110) and (011) orientations of \b{eta}-Ga2O3 were computed by using first-principles calculation methods for accurate apparent charge density (ND-NA) extraction and breakdown electric field analysis from capacitance-voltage measurements. The HJDs fabricated on n+ (110) exhibited breakdown electric fields >10 MV/cm up to 12.9 MV/cm, showing the highest experimentally observed parallel-plane junction electric field among \b{eta}-Ga2O3-based junctions. Breakdown electric fields among (100), (010), (001), and (011) orientations showed distinct distribution in the range of 5.13-5.26 MV/cm, 5.10-7.05 MV/cm, 2.70-3.33 MV/cm, and 3.88-4.38 MV/cm, respectively, validating the orientational dependence of parallel-plane junction electric field at breakdown in low-symmetry monoclinic \b{eta}-Ga2O3. The parallel-plane breakdown electric fields (EBr,||) reported in this work were extracted when the device experienced catastrophic breakdown at 100 mA/cm^2 current density compliance, and should not be confused with critical electric field (Ec) as a function of drift layer doping concentration, which accounts for electric-field dependent impact ionization coefficients in Si, SiC and GaN. This study can guide the choice of crystal orientation for high performance gallium oxide-based devices that require high electric field handling capability.