Eliminating Plasma Damage for Beta-Phase Gallium Oxide Transistors

Beta-phase Gallium Oxide (β-Ga2O2) is a promising semiconductor material for power switching applications due to its transport capabilities and ease of n-type doping. Vertical field effect transistors (VFETs) are also an emerging improvement on low-mobility organic semiconductors, and pairing VFETs with β-Ga2O2 would afford further performance enhancements. The main limitation of producing VFETs with β-Ga2O2 is the plasma damage that the device sustains during dry etching. The damage leads to early degradation of the device, and reduced conductivity.

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have eliminated the plasma damage in the fabrication process for VFETs that use β-Ga2O2. With a combination of wet etching and carefully-chosen cryptography orientations, the advantages of both β-Ga2O2 and vertical transistor topology can be realized in power switching devices.