Duarte M. Esteves | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Study on the Effect of Annealing on Ga$_2$O$_3$ Thin Films Deposited on Silicon by RF Sputtering

Gallium oxide is an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor with excellent opto-electronic properties, making it a highly promising material for a wide range of applications and devices. In this article, we report how the optical, morphological, structural, and compositional properties of $β$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ thin films deposited by RF sputtering on silicon substrates are affected by thermal treatments. Ellipsometric spectra recorded at multiple angles of incidence from several samples subjected to thermal annealing in the range of 550-1000 $^\circ$C were analyzed to extract the optical functions using appropriate multilayer models. This analysis is complemented by compositional, structural, and morphological characterization techniques. A significant increase of the refractive index was found after annealing at 1000 $^\circ$C, accompanied by a stark improvement in the samples' crystalline structure, as confirmed by complementary structural and compositional characterization techniques.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

Effect of Annealing on Al Diffusion and its Impact on the Properties of Ga$_2$O$_3$ Thin Films Deposited on c-plane Sapphire by RF Sputtering

Gallium oxide is a wide-bandgap semiconductor which has been steadily growing in popularity due to its ultra-wide bandgap, suitability for harsh environments and distinctive opto-electrical properties. Notable applications include deep-UV photodetectors, low loss waveguides or even transparent solar cells. RF sputtering stands out among possible techniques for the epitaxial deposition of Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ thin films with high quality and at a low cost. By using sapphire substrates, and through thermal annealing, we can form a $β$-(Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$)$_{2}$O$_{3}$ alloy by Al diffusion, which has tunable opto-electrical properties such as the bandgap and breakdown electric field. In this work, techniques such as X-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy and optical transmission are used to determine the optical properties, morphology and composition of Ga$_{2}$O$_{3}$ deposited and annealed thin films. To explore the formation of the $β$-(Al$_{x}$Ga$_{1-x}$)$_{2}$O$_{3}$ alloy, annealing was performed at variable temperature, in ambient air. It was determined that the bandgap can indeed be tuned between 4.85 and 5.30 eV by varying the annealing temperature, corresponding to an Al content between 0$-$68.5.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗