Thermal transport in ion-beam-exfoliated β-Ga2O3 nanomembranes

A Abdullaev and L Mukhangaliyeva and K Sekerbayev and DM Esteves and MC Pedro and LC Alves and K Lorenz and M Peres and Z Utegulov, APL MATERIALS, 13, 051120 (2025).

DOI: 10.1063/5.0271003

beta-Ga2O3 is a promising material for power electronics due to its wide bandgap and high breakdown field, but its low thermal conductivity poses challenges for heat dissipation. To address this, we employed ion beam exfoliation to fabricate beta-Ga2O3 nanomembranes integrated with highly thermally conductive Si substrates. To do this, chromium ion implantation was used to induce stress and strain, forming rolled-up microtubes on (100)-oriented beta-Ga2O3 single crystals. After successfully transferring these tubes onto Si substrates and performing thermal annealing, these microtubes were unrolled into nanomembranes. X-ray diffraction and Raman measurements revealed the high quality of the samples. Time-domain thermoreflectance was used to study thermal transport in these structures, confirming uniform thermal conductivity across three fabricated samples. A Debye-based thermal transport model was implemented to validate experimental results and define the main phonon scattering mechanisms. Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations revealed that a thin amorphous SiO2 interlayer significantly enhanced the thermal boundary conductance (TBC) across the beta-Ga2O3/Si interface by bridging the vibrational mismatch between beta-Ga2O3 and Si. However, further increasing the interlayer thickness led to phonon scattering and reduced TBC, emphasizing the importance of precise interface thickness control. This study highlights ion beam exfoliation as a scalable approach for integrating beta-Ga2O3 with thermally conductive substrates, providing a pathway to improved thermal management in beta-Ga2O3-based power electronics.

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