Article

News | 03-05-2023

Outstanding dissertation on the material development of epitaxial beta-gallium oxide by Dr. Ta-Shun Chou

In January 2020, Dr. Ta-Shun Chou started as a PhD student in the junior research group "Epitaxy of semiconducting gallium oxide" of Dr. Andreas Popp. He has very successfully completed and defended his dissertation entitled "Growth and Characterization of Epitaxial Gallium Oxide Films" at TU Berlin with "summa cum laude".

Dr. Ta-Shun Chou after his defense with the reviewers Prof. Dr. Kentaro Kutsukake, Prof. Dr. Matthias Bickermann and Prof. Dr. Jan Ingo Flege (from left to right)

Within the BMBF funded joint project "ForMikro-GoNext" Dr. Chou has significantly contributed to the material development of epitaxial beta-gallium oxide (β-Ga2O3) layers, which are suitable as an electrically active part for later vertical transistors.

His dissertation was outstanding in the pioneering connection between experimental optimization and current approaches from machine learning to find out and use also "hidden" correlations between the growth parameters and the material properties.

For the first time worldwide, 4 µm thick (100) oriented β-Ga2O3 films could be produced while maintaining the step-flow growth which is crucial for the film quality. In addition, significant progress was made in the area of growth rate and doping - important steps towards the demonstration of industrial relevance of β-Ga2O3.

Further information:
Andreas Popp (Junior Research Group "Epitaxy of semiconducting gallium oxide")