Diffusion of Sn donors in β-Ga2O3

Diffusion of the n-type dopant Sn in beta-Ga2O3 is studied using secondary-ion mass spectrometry combined with hybrid functional calculations. The diffusion of Sn from a Sn-doped bulk substrate with surface orientation (001) into an epitaxial layer is observed after heat treatments in the temperature range of 1050-1250 degrees C. Calculated formation energies of Sn-related and intrinsic defects show that the migration of Sn is mediated by Ga vacancies (V-Ga) through the formation and dissociation of intermittent mobile VGaSnGa complexes. The evolution of the Sn concentration vs depth profiles after heat treatments can be well described by a reaction-diffusion model. Using model parameters guided by the hybrid functional calculations, we extract a VGaSnGa complex migration barrier of 3.0 +/- 0.4 eV with a diffusion coefficient of 2 x 10(-1) cm(2)/s. The extracted migration barrier is consistent with our theoretical predictions using the nudged elastic band method, which shows migration barriers of 3.42, 3.15, and 3.37 eV for the [100], [010], and [001] directions, respectively. (c) 2023 Author(s).