Characterisation of Sn-Cl co-doped β-Ga2O3 thin films deposited via spray pyrolysis and their application in UV detector devices

Ga2O3, an ultrawide bandgap semiconducting oxide, is currently emerging as a promising candidate for various applications, such as power devices, solar-blind UV detectors, high temperature oxygen sensors and biomedical imaging. One significant limitation hindering the application of Ga2O3 as a wide-bandgap semiconductor is its poor conductivity. In this work, we investigate whether doping with tin and chlorine can mitigate this condition. Sn-Cl co-doped β-Ga2O3 thin films are deposited on glass substrates using spray pyrolysis technique. The deposited films are subjected to comprehensive analysis, including structural, optical and morphological measurements using techniques like X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and EDX studies. Electrical properties are assessed using the four-probe method and Hall measurements. The best conductivity of 8.86 Ω-1m-1 is observed when 8.68 at. % of Sn and 3.37 at. % of Cl were co-doped into Ga2O3 (S(3)) and its optical band gap is calculated to be 4.65 eV. This is about five orders of improvement in conductivity as compared to that of pure Ga2O3 thin film deposited by the same method. Furthermore, we have constructed a deep UV detector utilizing doped β-Ga2O3 thin films as the semiconducting absorbing layer. The detector demonstrated the highest responsivity of 2.54 × 10-4 A/W at 260 nm and the corresponding specific detectivity is 1.4 × 109 Jones. The current research validates the potential of Sn-Cl co-doped β-Ga2O3 thin film as an excellent choice for UV detector application.