Effect of OH- on chemical mechanical polishing of β-Ga2O3(100) substrate using an alkaline slurry

beta-Ga2O3, a semiconductor material, has attracted considerable attention given its potential applications in high-power devices, such as high-performance field-effect transistors. For decades, beta-Ga2O3 has been processed through chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). Nevertheless, the understanding of the effect of OH- on beta-Ga2O3 processed through CMP with an alkaline slurry remains limited. In this study, beta-Ga2O3 substrates were successively subjected to mechanical polishing (MP), CMP and etching. Then, to investigate the changes that occurred on the surfaces of the samples, samples were characterised through atomic force microscopy (AFM), three-dimensional laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). LSCM and SEM results showed that beta-Ga2O3 is highly vulnerable to brittle fracture during MP. AFM revealed that an ultrasmooth and nondamaged surface with a low R-a of approximately 0.18 nm could be obtained through CMP. XPS results indicated that a metamorphic layer, which mainly contains soluble gallium salt (Ga(OH)(4)(-)), formed on the beta-Ga2O3 surface through a chemical reaction. A dendritic pattern appeared on the surface of beta-Ga2O3 after chemical etching. This phenomenon indicated that the chemical reaction on the beta-Ga2O3 surface occurred in a nonuniform and selective manner. The results of this study will aid the optimization of slurry preparation and CMP.