Surface chemical composition and HRTEM analysis of heteroepitaxial β-Ga2O3 films grown by MOCVD

β gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) is an ultrawide bandgap semiconductor with great potential for solar-blind ultraviolet detection, power devices, and gas sensing. However, the understanding of the surface properties of β-Ga2O3 remains insufficient. Here, epitaxial growth of β-Ga2O3 films was carried by metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) on sapphire substrates. The surface chemical composition, surface layer crystalline properties, and surface morphology of the β-Ga2O3 films were discussed and analyzed in detail. By comparing the atomic ratios of O/Ga, surface morphology, and crystalline properties of the films, we attribute the component of O 1s with the binding energy around 531.8 eV to surface lattice O atoms. Moreover, the one-dimensional defects inside the surface layers and the near-interface regions of the films were observed at atomic scale by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). By comparing the lattice fringes of different facets, the geometric phase uniformity, and the distribution of strain, we found that the crystalline quality of the surface layers is much higher than the near-interface regions.