Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of amorphous Ga2O3 for solar-blind photodetection

Wide-bandgap gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃) is one of the most promising semiconductor materials for solar-blind (200 ​nm–280 ​nm) photodetection. In its amorphous form, a-Ga₂O₃ maintains its intrinsic optoelectronic properties while can be prepared at a low growth temperature, thus it is compatible with Si integrated circuits (ICs) technology. Herein, the a-Ga₂O₃ film is directly deposited on pre-fabricated Au interdigital electrodes by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) at a growth temperature of 250 ​°C. The stoichiometric a-Ga₂O₃ thin film with a low defect density is achieved owing to the mild PE-ALD condition. As a result, the fabricated Au/a-Ga₂O₃/Au photodetector shows a fast time response, high responsivity, and excellent wavelength selectivity for solar-blind photodetection. Furthermore, an ultra-thin MgO layer is deposited by PE-ALD to passivate the Au/a-Ga₂O₃/Au interface, resulting in the responsivity of 788 A/W (under 254 ​nm at 10 ​V), a 250-nm-to-400-nm rejection ratio of 9.2 ​× ​10³, and the rise time and the decay time of 32 ​ms and 6 ​ms, respectively. These results demonstrate that the a-Ga₂O₃ film grown by PE-ALD is a promising candidate for high-performance solar-blind photodetection and potentially can be integrated with Si ICs for commercial production.