Synergistic effect of electrical bias and proton irradiation on the electrical performance of β-Ga2O3 p–n diode.

The synergistic impact of reverse bias stress and 3 MeV proton irradiation on the β-Ga₂O₃ p–n diode has been studied from the perspective of the defect in this work. The forward current density (J_F) is significantly decreased with the increase in proton irradiation fluence. According to the deep-level transient spectroscopy results, the increase in the acceptor-like trap with an energy level of E_C-0.75 eV within the β-Ga₂O₃ drift layer, which is most likely to be Ga vacancy-related defects, can be the key origin of the device degradation. The increase in these acceptor-like traps results in the carrier concentration reduction, which in turn leads to a decrease in J_F. Furthermore, compared with the case of proton irradiation with no bias, the introduction of −100 V electrical stress induced a nearly double decrease in J_F. Based on the capacitance–voltage (C–V) measurement, with the support of the electric field, the carrier removal rate increased from 335 to 600 cm⁻¹. Similar to the above-mentioned phenomenon, the trap concentration also increased significantly. We propose a hypothesis elucidating the synergistic effect of electrical stress and proton irradiation through the behavior of recoil nuclei under the electric field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]