Electrical characteristics of in situ Mg-doped β-Ga2O3 current-blocking layer for vertical devices

The lack of p-type doping has impeded the development of vertical gallium oxide (Ga2O3) devices. Current blocking layers (CBLs) using implanted deep acceptors have been used to demonstrate vertical devices. This paper presents a pioneering demonstration of in situ Mg-doped β-Ga2O3 CBLs grown using metal–organic chemical vapor deposition. The Mg-doping density during growth was calibrated by quantitative secondary ion mass spectroscopy. Electrical test structures were designed with in situ Mg doped layers with various targeted Mg doping concentrations. The effectiveness of the CBL is characterized by using temperature-dependent current–voltage measurements using n-Mg-doped-n structures, providing crucial insight into the underlying mechanisms. Pulsed measurements show similar blocking characteristics as DC. To further validate the experimental results, a TCAD simulation is performed, and the electrically active effective doping is found to be dependent on the Mg-doping density, offering an alternate perspective on the optimization of CBL performance. Breakdown measurements show a peak 4 MV/cm field strength.