Ion-beam modification of metastable gallium oxide polymorphs

• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2021.130346
• Publication Date: 2021-06-30T15:40:27Z
• Authors: David Tetelbaum; Alena Nikolskaya; Dmitry Korolev; Timur Mullagaliev; Alexey Belov; Vladimir Trushin; Yuri Dudin; Alexey Nezhdanov; Aleksandr Mashin; Alexey Mikhaylov; Alexey Pechnikov; Michael Scheglov; Vladimir Nikolaev; Daniela Gogova
• Keywords: Metastability

Abstract Structural changes under the action of Al+ irradiation have been investigated by X-ray diffraction for polymorphic Ga2O3 layers grown by halide vapor phase epitaxy on c-plane sapphire and consisting predominantly of α-phase with inclusions of e(κ)-phase. As a result of irradiation, some new reflections appear, which can be interpreted in two ways – either as a phase transition of the α- and/or e(κ)-phase to the more stable β-phase, or as a selective radiation-stimulated strain of the e(κ)-phase, i.e., an increase in the interplanar distance of a family of planes parallel to the surface. The discussed ion-stimulated phenomena have to be taken into account when utilizing ion implantation to modify Ga2O3 properties.