Paper TF+EM+MI-WeA9
A Novel Technique for the Growth of Gallium Oxide Nanowires for UV Detection

Wednesday, October 24, 2018, 5:00 pm, Room 102A

Recently, high interest in wide bandgap semiconductors for a variety of applications has grown. Due to the unique thermal, optical, and electrical properties of Ga₂O_3, the scientists attract to the assessment of Ga₂O₃ nanowires (NWs) as a valuable material in semiconductor research fields, especially for applications in harsh environments and power electronics. Compared to thin films, nanowires exhibit a higher surface-to-volume ratio, increasing their sensitivity for detection. Additionally, nanowire devices exhibit quantum effects not seen in bulk materials and allow for crystalline materials to be grown on arbitrary substrates in spite of lattice mismatch due to lattice strain relaxation at the interface. In this work, we explore a simple and inexpensive method of growing high-density gallium oxide NWs at high temperatures. The gallium oxide NWs growth mechanism can be obtained by heating and oxidizing the gallium metal into high temperatures above 900 °C. This process can be optimized for large-scale production with high-quality, dense and long-length of gallium oxide NWs. We show the results of the characterization of the materials including the optical band gap, Schottky barrier height with metal contacts, and photoconductance of β-Ga₂O₃ nanowires. The influence of density on these Ga₂O₃ nanowires will be examined in order to determine the optimum configuration for the detection of UV light.