1 GeV proton damage in β-Ga2O3

The changes of electrical properties and deep trap spectra induced in n-type β-Ga2O3 by 1 GeV protons with a fluence of 4 × 1013 cm−2 were studied. The carrier removal rates were ∼100 cm−1 at this energy. For comparison, for 20 MeV proton irradiation at comparable fluences (5–10 × 1014 cm−2), the removal rate was ∼400 cm−1 for donor concentrations of 3 × 1016 cm−3 and ∼100 cm−1 for concentrations of <1016 cm−3. These removal rates were in stark contrast with modeling results that predicted the introduction rates of vacancies to be two orders of magnitude higher for 20 MeV protons. Measurements of deep electron and hole traps densities by deep level transient spectroscopy with electrical or optical injection (DLTS or ODLTS), and capacitance–voltage profiling under monochromatic light illumination showed that the 1 GeV proton irradiation resulted in the introduction of deep donors E2*(Ec-0…