Ultrasensitive Flexible κ-Phase Ga2O3 Solar-Blind Photodetector

Flexible Ga2O3 photodetectors have attracted considerable interest owing to their potential use in the development of implantable, foldable, and wearable optoelectronics. In particular, beta-phase Ga2O3 has been most widely investigated due to the highest thermodynamic stability. However, high-quality beta-phase Ga2O3 relies on the ultrahigh crystallization temperature (usually >= 750 degrees C), beyond the thermal tolerance of most flexible substrates. In this work, we epitaxially grow a high-quality metastable kappa-phase Ga2O3 (002) thin film on a flexible mica (001) substrate under 680 degrees C and develop a flexible kappa-Ga(2)O(3)thin film photodetector with ultrahigh performance. Epitaxial kappa-Ga2O3 and the mica substrate are maintained to be thermally stable up to 750 degrees C, suggesting their potential for harsh environment applications. The responsivity, on/off ratio, detectivity, and external quantum efficiency of the fabricated photodetector are 703 A/W, 1.66 x 10(7), 4.08 x 10(14) Jones, and 3.49 x 10(5) %, respectively, for 250 nm incident light and a 20 V bias voltage. These values are record-high values reported to date for flexible Ga2O3 photodetectors. Furthermore, the flexible photodetector shows robust flexibility for bending radii of 1, 2, and 3 cm. More importantly, it shows strong mechanical stability against 10,000 bending test cycles. These results reveal the significance of high-quality kappa-phase Ga2O3 grown heteroepitaxially on a flexible mica substrate, especially its potential for use in future flexible solar-blind detection systems.

Automated summary

In this study, a high-quality metastable kappa-phase Ga2O3 thin film was epitaxially grown on a flexible mica substrate. The developed flexible photodetector exhibited record-high performance for flexible Ga2O3 photodetectors and demonstrated excellent flexibility and mechanical stability.