Gallium Oxide Fabrication with Ion Beams - GoFIB

Project summary

Gallium oxide is a novel ultra-wide band gap material, and the rationale is that its thin film fabrication technology is immature. In particular, the metastability conditions are difficult to control during sequential deposition of different polymorphs with existing techniques. However, the polymorphism may turn into a significant advantage if one can gain control over the polymorph multilayer and nanostructure design. Our objective is to develop a method for the controllable solid state polymorph conversion of gallium oxide assisted by ion irradiation, capitalizing on encouraging preliminary data. This fabrication method may pave the way for several potential applications (e.g. in power electronics, optoelectronics, thermoelectricity, batteries) and we will test the corresponding functionalities during the project. Thus, we envisage multiple positive impacts and potential benefits across a wide range of stakeholders.