Amorphous gallium oxide grown by low-temperature PECVD

Abstract

Owing to the wide application of metal oxides in energy conversion devices, the fabrication of these oxides using conventional, damage-free, and upscalable techniques is of critical importance in the optoelectronics community. Here, the authors demonstrate the growth of hydrogenated amorphous gallium oxide (a-GaOx:H) thin-films by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) at temperatures below 200 °C. In this way, conformal films are deposited at high deposition rates, achieving high broadband transparency, wide band gap (3.5–4 eV), and low refractive index (1.6 at 500 nm). The authors link this low refractive index to the presence of nanoscale voids enclosing H2, as indicated by electron energy-loss spectroscopy. This work opens the path for further metal-oxide developments by low-temperature, scalable and damage-free PECVD processes.