Effects of Drying Temperature and Molar Concentration on Structural, Optical, and Electrical Properties of beta-Ga2O3 Thin Films Fabricated by Sol-Gel Method

Abstract

In this study, β-Ga2O3 films were fabricated on a quartz substrate by the sol–gel method using different drying temperatures and solutions of different molar concentrations, and their struc-tural, optical, and electrical properties were evaluated. The as-fabricated films exhibited a monoclinic β-Ga2O3 crystal structure, whose crystallinity and crystallite size increased with increasing molar concentration of the solutions used and increasing drying temperature. Scanning electron microscopy of the as-prepared samples revealed dense surface morphologies and that the thickness of the films also depended on the deposition conditions. The average transmittance of all the samples was above 8% in visible light, and the calculated optical bandgap energy was 4.9 eV. The resistivity measured using a 4-point probe system was 3.7 × 103 Ω cm. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.