Abstract
Gallium oxide has recently been found to be of high interest as the widest bandgap semiconductor for which single crystals bulk substrates are available and whose electronic conductivity can be controlled by n-type doping. Because wide-bandgap semiconductors lead to high breakdown voltages in small length scales, and the resistive losses over small length scales are low, the material has several attractive attributes for high-voltage electronic diodes and switches. In this chapter, I give a personal account of the materials science and physics of this exciting new semiconductor material and its initial use in device demonstrations. The intention of the personal account is to share the twisted and connected paths that lead one to a specific research direction—this is certainly true for how I ended up being interested in gallium oxide as an interesting semiconductor material.
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Acknowledgements
Much of the initial phase of the work in my research group was kindly supported by the National Science Foundation DMREF Program under Grant 1534303 monitored by Dr. J. Schlueter and in part by AFOSR under Grant FA9550-17-1-0048 monitored by K. Goretta. Because of interest in this field and the formative work in the past few years, several countries have increased financial support of this material. For example, following the formative materials and device work in Japan, the GraFOX initiative was launched in Germany to study fundamental properties of oxides. In the USA, a Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) was launched by Dr. Ali Sayir of the AFOSR in 2018. I believe these are the first steps toward building a firm foundation for an emerging field, and there will be several more in the future.
I would like to acknowledge the many collaborators mentioned in this chapter, and beyond, for introducing me to \(\upbeta \)-Ga\(_{2}\)O\(_{3}\), and giving me the opportunity to work on this semiconductor system. It is inevitable that I have skipped or missed several important topics, developments, and people in this personal review—for which I sincerely apologize. The purpose of this article is not so much to present a comprehensive review of the field for which we have this whole book and its excellent chapters. Rather, I have discussed candidly the various unexpected connections, unanticipated opportunities, constant struggles, and most importantly, the joy of discovery in this emerging field that I have experienced by my fortune of being an early adopter. I hope this chapter gives young researchers entering the field a sense that research in science and engineering is after all done by human beings (at least till now, till machines can learn and A.I. takes over!) and is a beautiful example of how friends across countries and continents work together to make true advance in a field and uncover new materials and phenomena. Personal friendships and connections, love for the subject, and a strong belief go a long way in uncovering new science and building new technologies from a mere few atoms in the seemingly vast abyss of combination of elements in the periodic table.
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Jena, D. (2020). Gallium Oxide Materials and Devices. In: Higashiwaki, M., Fujita, S. (eds) Gallium Oxide. Springer Series in Materials Science, vol 293. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37153-1_40
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