Doping of Czochralski-grown bulk beta-Ga2O3 single crystals with Cr, Ce and Al

We experimentally evaluated segregation of Cr, Ce and Al in bulk beta-Ga2O3 single crystals grown by the Czochralski method, as well as the impact of these dopants on optical properties. The segregation of Cr and Ce and their incorporation into the beta-Ga2O3 crystal structure strongly depends on O-2 concentration in the growth atmosphere which has a noticeable impact on decomposition of Ga2O3 and Cr2O3, as well as on the charge state of Cr and Ce. Effective segregation coefficients for Cr are in the range of 3.1-1.5 at 724 vol% O-2, while for Ce they are roughly below 0.01 at 1.5-34 vol% O-2. The effective segregation coefficient for Al is 1.1 at 1.5-21 vol% O-2. Both dopants Ce and Al have a thermodynamically stabilizing effect on beta-Ga2O3 crystal growth by supressing decomposition. While Ce has no impact on the optical transmittance in the ultraviolet and visible regions, in Cr doped crystals we observe three absorption bands due to Cr3+ on octahedral Ga sites, one in the ultraviolet merging with the band edge absorption of beta-Ga2O3 and two in the visible spectrum, for which we estimate the absorption cross sections. Al doping also does not induce dopant related absorption bands but clearly shifts the absorption edge as one expects for a solidsolution crystal Ga2(1-x) Al2xO3 still in the monoclinic phase. For the highest doping concentration (Ga1.9Al0.1O3) we estimate an increase of the energy gap by 0.11 eV. (C) 2018 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.