Experimental estimation of electron–hole pair creation energy in <b> <i>β</i> </b>-Ga2O3
E. B. Yakimov, A. Y. Polyakov, Ivan Shchemerov, N. B. Smirnov, A.A. Vasil'ev, П. С. Вергелес, E. E. Yakimov, А. В. Черных, F. Ren, S. J. Pearton
Abstract
The applicability of using Electron Beam Induced Current (EBIC) measurements on Schottky barriers to obtain the mean electron–hole pair creation energy in β-Ga2O3 is reported. It is shown that, when combined with Monte Carlo simulation, this approach yields for Si, GaN, and 4H–SiC a data set consistent with empirical expressions proposed earlier in the literature for many different semiconductors. The method is then applied to β-Ga2O3, where complications related to hole trapping in the material give rise to a strong gain in EBIC and have to be carefully treated and taken into account. When this is done, the mean electron–hole pair energy formation is found to be 15.6 eV, in reasonable agreement with the values predicted by empirical expressions.