Band offset and electrical properties of ErZO/β-Ga2O3 and GZO/β-Ga2O3 heterojunctions

Abstract The fabrication of ohmic contacts on wide bandgap semiconductors, such as β-Ga2O3, is difficult as the scarcity of metals with low-enough work function. The insertion of n+-doped metal oxide layer between metal and the β-Ga2O3 layers are effective for improving the ohmic behaviour. β-Ga2O3, Erbium doped ZnO (ErZO), and Gallium doped ZnO (GZO) films with high crystallinity were deposited by pulsed laser deposition. The band offsets and electrical properties of ErZO/β-Ga2O3 and GZO/β-Ga2O3 heterojunctions were investigated, which revealed the nested gap (type I) structures. The conduction band offsets were determined to be 0.88 eV for ErZO and 0.96 eV for GZO, and their corresponding valance band offsets were found to be 0.46 eV and 0.16 eV. In addition, the difference of the work functions between ErZO and β-Ga2O3 was 0.05 eV; and 0.16 eV between GZO and β-Ga2O3. Solar blind UV detector having fork electrode structure of as-grown β-Ga2O3/ErZO/Ti/Au structure showed good ohmic performance and have superior detector performance comparing with the other two electrode structures, which was ascribed to ErZO’s low band offset and small work function difference with β-Ga2O3. The present result provides an option for fabricating ohmic contact on β-Ga2O3 without the need for post-growth annealing.