Comprehensively Improved Performance of β-Ga2O3 Solar-Blind Photodetector Enabled by a Homojunction with Unique Passivation Mechanisms

Ga2O3-based solar-blind photodetectors have been extensively investigated for a wide range of applications. However, to date, a lot of research has focused on optimizing the epitaxial technique or constructing a heterojunction, and studies concerning surface passivation, a key technique in electronic and optoelectronic devices, are severely lacking. Here, we report an ultrasensitive metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector employing a beta-Ga2O3 homojunction structure realized by lowenergy surface fluorine plasma treatment, in which an ultrathin fluorine-doped layer served for surface passivation. Without inserting/capping a foreign layer, this strategy utilized fluorine dopants to both passivate local oxygen vacancies and suppress surface chemisorption. The dual effects have opposite impacts on device current magnitude (by suppressing metal/semiconductor junction leakage and inhibiting surfacechemisorption-induced carrier consumption) but dominate in dark and under illumination, respectively. By means of such unique mechanisms, the simultaneous improvement on dark and photo current characteristics was achieved, leading to the sensitivity enhanced by nearly 1 order of magnitude. Accordingly, the 15 min treated sample exhibited striking competitiveness in terms of comprehensive properties, including a dark current as low as 6 pA, a responsivity of 18.43 A/W, an external quantum efficiency approaching 1 x 10(4)%, a specific detectivity of 2.48 x 10(14) Jones, and a solar-blind/UV rejection ratio close to 1 x 10(5). Furthermore, the response speed was effectively accelerated because of the reduction on metal/semiconductor interface trap states. Our findings provide a facile, economical, and contamination-free surface passivation technique, which unlocks the potential for comprehensively improving the performance of beta-Ga2O3 solar-blind metalsemiconductor-metal photodetectors.

Automated summary

This study presents a metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector with a beta-Ga2O3 homojunction structure achieved by low-energy surface fluorine plasma treatment for surface passivation. The fluorine dopants were used to passivate oxygen vacancies and suppress surface chemisorption, resulting in an improvement in both dark and photo current characteristics. The sensitivity was enhanced by nearly 1 order of magnitude, showcasing competitive comprehensive properties for beta-Ga2O3 solar-blind metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors.