Ga₂O₃ Thin Film Growth on c-Plane Sapphire Substrates by Molecular Beam Epitaxy for Deep-Ultraviolet Photodetectors

Abstract

(201)-oriented β-Ga2O3 thin films were grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. In-plane X-ray diffraction measurements revealed the inclusion of α-Ga2O3 and rotational domains. However, the film grown under the optimized growth conditions exhibited a sharp absorption edge at around 5.0 eV, which is in the deep-ultraviolet region. An ohmic-type metal–semiconductor–metal photodetector showed a high resistance of around 6 GΩ with a small dark current of 1.2 nA at the 10 V bias voltage. Under 254 nm light illumination and 10 V bias voltage, the photoresponsivity was 0.037 A/W, which corresponded to a quantum efficiency of 18%.