The growth of HVPE α-Ga₂O₃ crystals and its solar-blind UV photodetector applications

While Ga₂O₃ crystals are considered as the next generation optoelectronic materials, the exploration of HVPE α-Ga₂O₃ crystals and their use as solar-blind UV photodetector are still insufficient. In this paper, we investigated the structural characterization of HVPE α-Ga₂O₃ materials and their properties as solar-blind photodetector. HVPE α-Ga₂O₃ exhibited excellent structural properties with relatively good crystallinity, and smooth surface morphology, without any complicated process. Raman investigations confirmed the existence of slight compressive strain in the as-grown HVPE α-Ga₂O₃. UV–visible spectrophotometry proved that HVPE α-Ga₂O₃ had an optical bandgap of 5.15 eV, evidencing the suitability of this material for application as solar-blind photodetector. Furthermore, the photodetector synthesized using HVPE α-Ga₂O₃ showed excellent photo-response characteristics. We believe that this study will support further development of functional oxide semiconductor materials and opto-electronic devices.