Single-Crystal Y2O3 Epitaxially on GaAs(001) and (111) Using Atomic Layer Deposition

Single-crystal atomic-layer-deposited (ALD) Y\(_{\mathrm{2}}\)O\(_{\mathrm{3}}\) films 2 nm thick were epitaxially grown on molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) GaAs(001)-4 \(\times\) 6 and GaAs(111)A-2 \(\times\) 2 reconstructed surfaces. The in-plane epitaxy between the ALD-oxide films and GaAs was observed using \textit{in-situ} reflection high-energy electron diffraction in our uniquely designed MBE/ALD multi-chamber system. More detailed studies on the crystallography of the hetero-structures were carried out using high-resolution synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction. When deposited on GaAs(001), the Y\(_{\mathrm{2}}\)O\(_{\mathrm{3}}\) films are of a cubic phase and have (110) as the film normal, with the orientation relationship being determined: Y\(_{\mathrm{2}}\)O\(_{\mathrm{3}}\)(\(110\))[\(001\)][\(\overline{1}10\)]//GaAs(\(001\))[\(110\)][\(1\overline{1}0\)]. On GaAs(\(111\))A, the Y\(_{\mathrm{2}}\)O\(_{\mathrm{3}}\) films are also of a cubic phase with (\(111\)) as the film normal, having the orientation relationship of Y\(_{\mathrm{2}}\)O\(_{\mathrm{3}}\)(\(111\))[\(2\overline{1}\overline{1}\)] [\(01\overline{1}\)]//GaAs (\(111\)) [\(\overline{2}11\)][\(0\overline{1}1\)]. The relevant orientation for the present/future integrated circuit platform is (\(001\)). The ALD-Y\(_{\mathrm{2}}\)O\(_{\mathrm{3}}\)/GaAs(\(001\))-4 \(\times\) 6 has shown excellent electrical properties. These include small frequency dispersion in the capacitance-voltage CV curves at accumulation of ~7% and ~14% for the respective p- and n-type samples with the measured frequencies of 1 MHz to 100 Hz. The interfacial trap density (Dit) is low of ~10\(^{12}\) cm\(^{−2}\)eV\(^{−1}\) as extracted from measured quasi-static CVs. The frequency dispersion at accumulation and the D\(_{it}\) are the lowest ever achieved among all the ALD-oxides on GaAs(\(001\)).