Growth of β-Ga2O3 Nanoparticles Doped with Tin by Ni2+ Catalyzed Chemical Vapor Deposition

Sn-doped monoclinic β-Ga2O3 nanoparticles were successfully fabricated on Si (111) substrates with NiCl2 as a catalyst by chemical vapor deposition using metallic gallium and oxygen as sources. The composition, crystal structure, morphology, and optical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR), and photoluminescence, respectively. The results demonstrate that the sample was monoclinic β-Ga2O3 nanoparticles with diameters approximately ranging from 200~300 nm. Well-defined prominent absorption bands located at 458 and 671 cm-1 in the FTIR spectra corresponded to Ga-O vibrations. The photoluminescence spectrum shows that the Ga2O3 nanoparticles have a broad and strong emission band ranging from 300 nm to 650 nm with four Gaussian bands centered at approximately 346 (UV), 416 (blue), 473 (dark blue), and 529 nm (green), which may be attributed to defects such as oxygen vacancies and galliumoxygen vacancy pairs. The growth mechanism of β-Ga2O3 nanoparticles is discussed in brief.