Surface termination structure of α-Ga2O3 film grown by mist chemical vapor deposition

Abstract

The surface structure of α-Ga2O3(0001) grown on an α-Al2O3(0001) substrate by mist chemical vapor deposition was studied by coaxial impact-collision ion scattering spectroscopy (CAICISS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The minimum step height observed in the AFM image was 0.21 ± 0.01 nm, coinciding with the height of three atomic layers of α-Ga2O3(0001). It was revealed by CAICISS analysis that the surface of α-Ga2O3(0001) is terminated by a Ga layer followed by an O layer, which is consistent with the surface termination of α-Al2O3(0001). A structural model taking surface relaxation into account was also constructed by fitting the simulated curve for the azimuth angle dependence of the Ga intensity to the experimental dependence. The resultant structural model is similar to the model of an α-Al2O3(0001) surface, which indicates analogous behavior in corundum crystals.