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Schottky barrier height of Ni to -(AlxGa1−x)2O3 with different compositions grown by plasma-

assisted molecular beam epitaxy

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2017 Semicond. Sci. Technol. 32 035004

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 Semiconductor Science and Technology

Semicond. Sci. Technol. 32 (2017) 035004 (5pp) https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6641/aa53a7

Schottky barrier height of Ni to

β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 with different compositions
grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam
epitaxy
Elaheh Ahmadi, Yuichi Oshima, Feng Wu and James S Speck
Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106 United States

E-mail: elaheh@ece.ucsb.edu

Received 14 September 2016, revised 8 December 2016

Accepted for publication 13 December 2016
Published 30 January 2017

Abstract
Coherent β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 films (x=0, 0.038, 0.084, 0.164) were grown successfully on a
Sn-doped β-Ga2O3 (010) substrate using plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Atom probe
tomography, transmission electron microscopy, and high resolution x-ray diffraction were used
to verify the alloy composition and high quality of the films. Schottky diodes were then fabricated
using Ni as the Schottky metal. Capacitance–voltage measurements revealed a very low
(<7×1015 cm−3) free charge density in the nominally undoped films. The barrier height and
ideality factor were estimated by current–voltage (I–V ) measurements performed at temperatures
varying from 300 K to 500 K on the Schottky diodes. These measurements revealed that the apparent
Schottky barrier height could have similar values for different compositions of β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3. We
believe this is attributed to the lateral fluctuation in the alloy’s composition. This results in a lateral
variation in the barrier height. Therefore, the average Schottky barrier height extracted from I–V
measurements could be similar for β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 films with different compositions.
Keywords: Ga2O3, MBE, Schottky diode, alloy fluctuation

(Some figures may appear in colour only in the online journal)

1. Introduction than 75 cm2 V−1 s−1 in their devices. Realizing modulation

β-Ga2O3 has recently attracted interest for use in high power
electronic applications [1–4] due to its large bandgap (4.8 eV)
[5]. Baliga’s figure of merit (FOM) for this material has been
estimated to be around 3400 [6], which is four times larger
than that of GaN. Moreover, high quality single crystal
β-Ga2O3 can be grown economically using edge-defined film-
fed growth [7] or the floating zone techniques [8].
Promising results have been reported on β-Ga2O3-based
power devices such as metal-oxide field effect transistors
(MOSFETs) [9], Schottky diodes [10], and metal-semi-
conductor field effect transistors (MESFETs) [1]. In part-
icular, MOSFETs with high breakdown voltage (755 V) and
large current on/off ratio (109) were recently realized by
Wong et al [9]. They reported an electron mobility of less
doping in β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3/β-Ga2O3 heterostructures will
improve the electron mobility due to the absence of ionized
impurity scattering [11]. Furthermore, β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3/
β-Ga2O3 heterostructures enable device structures that improve
the breakdown voltage in MOSFETs considering the larger
bandgap of β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 in comparison with β-Ga2O3.
Regardless, achieving β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 with a high
Al2O3 mole fraction has been challenging due to phase
separation [12]. β-Ga2O3 crystallizes in a monoclinic crystal
structure, whereas β-Al2O3 has a corundum crystal structure.
It has been shown that the growth rate on cleavage
planes is much lower than that on (010)-oriented β-Ga2O3
[13]. Therefore, in this work we focused on studying
β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3/β-Ga2O3 heterostructures on (010)-oriented
β-Ga2O3 substrates.

0268-1242/17/035004+05$33.00 1 © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

Semicond. Sci. Technol. 32 (2017) 035004 E Ahmadi et al

Figure 1. AFM image (5 μm×5 μm) of the surface of β-Ga2O3

grown on β-Ga2O3 (010) substrate (a) without any surface pre-
treatment (b) after performing a plasma polishing at 800 °C with an
oxygen foreline pressure and plasma power of 50 Torr and 200 W,
respectively, for 30 min.

To enable various device designs with β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3/

β-Ga2O3 heterostructures, one known parameter is the Figure 2. Schematic of β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3/β-Ga2O3 heterostructures
Schottky barrier height (ΦB) of the metal to β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 grown on Sn-doped β-Ga2O3(010) substrates, and the fabricated
interface. In this work, first we show that thick β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 Schottky diode.
layers with Al2O3 mole fraction as high as 16% were grown
coherently strained on β-Ga2O3 (010). Schottky diodes were
then fabricated on nominally un-doped β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3
layers for four different compositions (x=0, 0.038, 0.084,
0.164) using Ni as the Schottky contact.
A 620 MBE system equipped with conventional Ga and
Al thermal effusion cells and a Veeco Uni-bulb oxygen rf-
plasma source was used for all the growths. All the samples
reported in this work were grown on Sn-doped β-Ga2O3 (010)
substrates with a miscut less than 0.2 degrees. Samples were
diced into 5 mm by 5 mm pieces, solvent cleaned and In-
bonded to Si backing wafers. A four hours bake at 200 °C was
performed in the load-lock chamber before transferring the
samples to the main chamber.
The substrate was polished by an active oxygen flux from
the plasma source using an oxygen foreline pressure of
50 Torr and rf plasma power of 200 W at 800 °C for 30 min
prior to the growth. This pre-treatment resulted in a smoother Figure 3. XRD ω-2θ triple axis profile along the 020 direction
showing an Al2O3 mole fraction (x) of 0.038, 0.084, 0.164 for Al/
surface of β-Ga2O3 layer grown on the substrate as confirmed (Al+Ga) flux ratios of 0.027, 0.057, and 0.10, respectively. Δω=0
by atomic force microscopy (AFM) shown in figure 1. corresponds to the 020 β-Ga2O3 peak.
The substrate temperature was then decreased to 650 °C,
and the oxygen foreline pressure was increased to 60 Torr.
β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 with an Al2O3 mole fraction as high as 16%
For the work reported here the (010) β-Ga2O3 growth rate remains coherently strained to the β-Ga2O3.
was 200 nm h−1. A 400 nm-thick β-Ga2O3 layer was grown The microstructure and chemical information of the
followed by a 100 nm-thick of β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 with four alloy were studied via both atom probe tomography (APT)
different Al compositions x in the β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 layer, as and high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) transmission
shown in figure 2. A Ga beam equivalent pressure (BEP) of electron microscopy (TEM) performed on a 130 nm-thick
1.1×10−7 Torr was used for both layers on all the samples. (Al0.16Ga0.84)2O3 layer grown in similar conditions. APT was
The β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 composition was varied by changing performed in laser mode with a Cameca Local Electrode
the Al/(Al+Ga) flux ratio. All samples were characterized by Atom Probe 3000X HR. The sample temperature was about
high-resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) using Cu Kα 40 K. A Nd:YAG laser (532 nm second harmonic and 120 ps
radiation. To determine the composition of β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 pulse width) was pulsed at 200 kHz with a pulse energy of
using ω-2θ peak separation, we used the method explained in 0.15 nJ for the APT experiments. 3D atom map reconstruction
[14]. The Al/(Al+Ga) flux ratios of 0.027, 0.057, and 0.10 and frequency distribution analysis were carried out using
corresponded to Al2O3 mole fraction (x) of 0.038, 0.084, Cameca’s IVAS reconstruction software. The APT samples
0.164, respectively, as extracted from the XRD ω-2θ triple- were prepared by Focused Ion Beam (FIB) with a Helios 600
axis profile of samples along 020 direction (figure 3). As Dual Beam instrument. HAADF images were recorded using
demonstrated in our previous work [14], a 100 nm-thick of an FEI Titan FEG High Resolution transmission electron

2
Semicond. Sci. Technol. 32 (2017) 035004
Figure 4. (a) Cross-sectional TEM and (b) 3D map of atomic distribution obtained from APT on a 130 nm-thick β-(Al0.16Ga0.84)2O3 (shown
by arrows) showing a uniform alloy. (c) Frequency distribution analysis of aluminum showing that the alloy composition follows a binomial
distribution.
microscope/scanning transmission electron microscope and
Analytical Microscope operated at 300 kV.
Figure 4(a) shows a HAADF TEM image taken from an
APT tip. The darker layer is (AlxGa1−x)2O3. The corresp-
onding 3D APT element map is shown in figure 4(b). The
average fraction of aluminum in the layer is about 0.16.
Frequency distribution analysis was applied to the sample to
examine the alloy randomness in this layer. The 3D APT data
were partitioned into equal size volume elements (Voxels),
each containing 100 atoms. The number of Al atoms in each
Voxel is counted. We counted a total of 15369 Voxels. The
Al frequency is shown by red circles in figure 4(c). The black
line in this figure depicts the binomial frequency distribution
which describes the alloy random distribution. A χ2 statistical
test was performed to test the deviation of the experiment
from the binomial distribution. For a random alloy, the null
hypothesis is that the observed distribution is consistent with
the hypothesized binomial distribution. The commonly used
standard value of probability P to reject the null hypothesis
was less than 0.01–0.05. In this sample, P is 0.8977, indi-
cating that aluminum has a random distribution in the alloy.
To fabricate Schottky diodes, first a blanket Ti (20 nm)/
Au (100 nm) stack was deposited at the backside of the
substrate as the Ohmic contact. Circular Schottky gates
with diameters varying from 50 μm to 800 μm were then
formed by deposition of 150 nm of Ni and lift off. The current
versus voltage (I–V ) was measured for different temperatures
from 300 K to 500 K on all the samples. It is worth men-
tioning that after cooling down the samples, the diodes were
re-measured at room temperature to investigate whether
increasing the temperature has caused any change in the
Schottky interface. No substantial change was observed in the
I–V behavior.
The following J–V relationship was used to estimate the
Schottky barrier height of the Ni- β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 interface
⎛ qf ⎞ ⎡ ⎛ qV ⎞ ⎤
J = A*T 2 exp ⎜ - B ⎟ ⎢exp ⎜ ⎟ - 1⎥ (1)
⎝ kB T ⎠ ⎣ ⎝ nk B T ⎠ ⎦ (AlxGa1−x)2O3 compositions at room temperature and 500 K
3
E Ahmadi et al
Where J, V, T , kB and q are the current density, applied
voltage, temperature, Boltzmann constant, and electron
4pqm*k
charge, respectively. A* = h3 B is the Richardson constant
which is a material property. Using an electron effective mass
of 0.342 for β-Ga2O3 gives A* = 41.1 Acm−2K−2 [10]. f B
in this equation is the Schottky barrier height, and n is the
ideality factor. In an ideal Schottky diode the current transport
is purely through thermionic emission and the ideality factor
is equal to one. However in practice, depending on the quality
of material or the metal to semiconductor interface, other
mechanisms such as the field-assisted thermionic emission or
trap-assisted tunneling could participate in the current trans-
port which results in an ideality factor greater than one.
Figure 5(a) demonstrates the temperature dependence of
J–V curves on the sample with a β-(Al0.084Ga0.916)2O3 layer
measured on a Schottky diode with 400 μm diameter. ΦB and n
were extracted for each temperature by a linear fit to the J–V
curve in the logarithmic scale as demonstrated in figure 5(b),
and are reported as a function of temperature for the afore-
mentioned sample in figure 5(c). The diode has a relatively large
n at room temperature. As the temperature increases the ideality
factor gets closer to one, and the barrier height increases. This
trend has been previously observed in GaN-based Schottky
diodes [15]. As suggested in the literature [16–18], this could be
due to the lateral variation of the barrier height. The probability
of electrons passing through the minima of the barrier is higher.
Furthermore, due to the electron thermionic energy distribution,
more electrons have enough energy to pass through this region
of the barrier. This results in lower apparent barrier height. By
increasing the temperature, the electron density of states shifts
toward higher energies, and therefore the number of electrons
having enough energy to pass over the high barrier regions
increases. Consequently, the apparent barrier height increases as
the temperature increases. Other non-idealities such as defects
on the surface, or poor adhesion of Ni to the oxide could also
lead to a large ideality factor.
The ideality factor and the barrier height for different β-
Semicond. Sci. Technol. 32 (2017) 035004 E Ahmadi et al

are reported in table 1. The apparent barrier height is larger at

500 K for all samples. As shown in this table, Ni forms bar-
riers with a similar height of 0.8 eV and 1.3 eV at room
temperature and 500 K, respectively, to both β-Ga2O3 and β-
(Al0.038Ga0.962)2O3. Whereas the barrier height of the Ni-
(Al0.084Ga0.916)2O3 and Ni-(Al0.164Ga0.836)2O3 interfaces
have larger values of 1 eV and 1.6 eV at room temperature
and 500 K, respectively. These similarities of barrier height
values for different compositions could be attributed to the
natural alloy composition fluctuations. It has been already
shown in other material systems [19–23] that in a random
alloy, composition fluctuates along the sample which is a
natural feature of a random alloy. The alloy fluctuation results
in a variation of the barrier height, and therefore similar
average barrier heights could be measured on alloys with
different compositions [15, 24, 25].
Our attempt to measure the barrier height by capacitance-
voltage (C–V ) measurement was unsuccessful. Because the
500 nm nominally undoped layer grown by PAMBE was
depleted, and the capacitance remained constant from 0 V to
−10 V. This indicates that the concentration of free charge in
our nominally undoped films is less than approximately
7×1015 cm−3. This number was calculated using the fol-
lowing relationship

qND W 2
fB = (2 )
2 0  r

Where ND is the electron concentration, and W = 500 nm is

the thickness of nominally undoped film grown by PAMBE.
We assumed a dielectric constant of r = 10 just for the sake
of approximation.
In summary, we extracted the Schottky barrier height of
Ni-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 interface as a function of temperature for
various Al2O3 mole fractions. We showed that the barrier
height could have similar values for different β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3
compositions.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Chirag Gupta for fruitful

discussions. This work was supported by the Air Force Office
Figure 5. (a) Forward-bias I–V curve in logarithmic scale; (b) linear of Scientific Research (AFOSR, Program Manager Dr Ali
fit to the linear region of the I–V curve; (c) n and ΦB for β- Sayir) through grant number FA9550-14-1-0112. This work
(Al0.084Ga0.916)2O3. made use of the central facilities supported by the NSF
MRSEC Program of the NSF under Award No. DMR
1121053; a member of the NSF-funded Materials Research
Facilities Network. A portion of this work was done in the
Table 1. Ideality factor (n) and barrier height of Schottky diodes on
β-(AlxGa1−x)2O3 with different compositions. UCSB Nanofabrication Facility, part of the NSF-funded
National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network.
300 K 500 K
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