XAFS study on the boron substituted LiGaO2 semiconductor material

An XAFS study was performed on the electronic and crystal structure properties of LiGa1-xBxO2 (LGO) material in where boron atoms were substituted at the gallium sites. Studies were carried out by the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns and supported by the Extended-XAFS data. The analysis on the substituted materials revealed interesting mechanisms at the boron sites that preserved the crystal symmetry in the entire bulk. It was determined that, boron atoms do not lie in the Ga sites due to inequivalent ionic radii and formed a crystal LiB3O5, which has the same crystal geometry and space group of the parent LGO. With the presence of the boron atoms on the vicinity of the gallium atoms, tiny shifts on the main edge spectra resulted from the change in the oxidation of the gallium atoms. •Electronic and crystal structure properties of B doped LiGaO2 materials were investigated.•Different crystal structures for Li-B complexes were determined.•The analysis results revealed interesting mechanisms in the boron coordinations.•The boron atoms built up a new crystal with the absence of a gallium ion.