Investigation of properties of Ta-doped Ga2O3 films prepared with seed layers

Ga2O3 is a promising ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor as a feasible candidate for power electronics, photodetectors, and sensors. Controlling electrical properties through doping is the key to its application in semiconductor devices. In this work, Ta-doped Ga2O3 films were prepared by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering with seed layers. Effects of the thickness of seed layers on the microstructure, morphology, optical and electrical properties of Ta-doped Ga2O3 films were investigated. The fabricated Ta-doped Ga2O3 films exhibited polycrystalline structure with uniform and smooth surface and high optical transmittance (＞80 %) in the visible light region. The results showed that seed layers with appropriate thickness (∼20 nm) is beneficial to the improvement of crystalline quality and electrical properties of Ta-doped Ga2O3 films.