Gallium oxide (Ga2O3)

β- Gallium oxide/Ga2O3, commonly known as gallium oxide, has been the focus of attention in the semiconductor field in recent years, representing a new chapter in the fourth generation of semiconductors. In the laboratory, researchers have continuously made remarkable breakthroughs, and their pace of mass production and commercialization is also accelerating.

Gallium oxide has good chemical and thermal stability, with a bandgap width of 4.7 to 4.9 eV, a critical breakdown field strength of 8 MV/cm (much higher than the theoretical limit of 2.5 MV/cm for SiC and 3.3 MV/cm for GaN), an electron mobility of 250 cm2/V • s, and strong transparent conductivity. Its Barigard value exceeds 3000, which is several times that of GaN and SiC materials.

These excellent properties enable gallium oxide to be applied in radiation detection sensor chips in fields such as communication, radar, aerospace, high-speed rail vehicles, and new energy vehicles. Especially in high-power, high-temperature, and high-frequency devices, gallium oxide has greater advantages over silicon carbide and gallium nitride in various aspects.

In just a few years, the manufacturing of Ga2O3 crystals has achieved rapid development, catching up with the current largest scale of SiC and GaN. In addition, the low preparation cost of epitaxial growth of large single crystal gallium oxide materials and mature epitaxial growth technology have provided strong support for the development of gallium oxide power devices.

Currently, research institutions and businesses from various countries are vying to invest and layout gallium oxide. In September 2017, gallium oxide was included in the key research and development plan by the High tech Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology; In March 2018, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Science and Technology took the lead in conducting research on cutting-edge new materials, listing gallium oxide as a key project.

In the future, with the optimization of Ga2O3 block single crystal growth costs (such as exploring different growth methods, iridium free processes, etc.) and the continuous resolution of p-type doping challenges (such as Mg SOG magnesium diffusion, P-NiO/N-Ga2O3 gallium oxide heterojunction, etc.), it is expected that gallium oxide will soon join the commercial market competing with silicon carbide and gallium nitride. Research predicts that the market size of gallium oxide power devices will begin to surpass that of gallium nitride in 2025, reaching $1.542 billion by 2030, accounting for 40% of silicon carbide and 1.56 times that of gallium nitride. Dihedral, Co., Ltd. (DHD) provides various crystal orientation and size specifications of gallium oxide (Ga2O3) single crystal substrates and epitaxial substrates according to the needs of researchers.