Substrate temperature dependent crystal structure and deep-ultraviolet photodetection of ZnGa2O4 thin films * *Project supported by This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 12074044), the Fund of State Key Laboratory of Information Photonics and Optical Communications (IPOC2021ZT05), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (BUPT, 2023ZCJH1).

Abstract

Zinc gallate (ZnGa2O4) is a promising material for deep-ultraviolet (DUV) photodetectors, owing to its wide bandgap and high transparency. However, the effect of substrate temperature on the structural and optical properties of ZnGa2O4 thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering is not well understood. Here, we report a systematic study of the influence of substrate temperature on the crystal quality, stoichiometry, bandgap, and photodetection performance of ZnGa2O4 thin films deposited on sapphire substrates. We find that the films undergo a phase transition from amorphous to polycrystalline at 300 °C, and then to single crystalline at 500 °C, accompanied by an increase in the bandgap from 4.6 to 4.9 eV. We also fabricate metal-semiconductor–metal photodetectors based on the ZnGa2O4 thin films with Ti/Au electrodes, which exhibit excellent Ohmic contact and high light-to-dark current ratio. The photodetectors show remarkable and stable DUV response, with the highest performance achieved at a substrate temperature of 650 °C. Our results demonstrate the crucial role of substrate temperature in tailoring the crystal structure and DUV photodetection of ZnGa2O4 thin films, and provide a facile route for optimizing their performance.