We report the use of suboxide molecular-beam epitaxy (S-MBE) to grow $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ at a growth rate of ~1 ${ \mu}$m/h with control of the silicon doping concentration from 5x10$^{ 16}$ to 10$^{ 19}$ cm$^{ -3}$. In S-MBE, pre-oxidized gallium in the form of a molecular beam that is 99.98\% Ga$_2$O, i.e., gallium suboxide, is supplied. Directly supplying Ga2O to the growth surface bypasses the rate-limiting first step of the two-step reaction mechanism involved in the growth of $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ by conventional MBE. As a result, a growth rate of ~1 ${ \mu}$m/h is readily achieved at a relatively low growth temperature (T$_{ sub}$ = 525 $^\circ$C), resulting in films with high structural perfection and smooth surfaces (rms roughness of < 2 nm on ~1 ${ \mu}$m thick films). Silicon-containing oxide sources (SiO and SiO$_2$) producing an SiO suboxide molecular beam are used to dope the $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ layers. Temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements on a 1 ${ \mu}$m thick film with a mobile carrier concentration of 2.7x10$^{ 17}$ cm$^{ -3}$ reveal a room-temperature mobility of 124 cm$^2$ V$^{ -1}$ s$^{ -1}$ that increases to 627 cm$^2$ V$^{ -1}$ s$^{ -1}$ at 76 K; the silicon dopants are found to exhibit an activation energy of 27 meV. We also demonstrate working MESFETs made from these silicon-doped $\beta$-Ga$_2$O$_3$ films grown by S-MBE at growth rates of ~1 ${ \mu}$m/h.
Categories: cond-mat.mtrl-sci physics.app-ph