Zinc gallate (ZnGa₂O₄) epitaxial thin films: determination of optical properties and bandgap estimation using spectroscopic ellipsometry

Electronic grade ZnGa₂O₄ epitaxial thin films were grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition and investigated using spectroscopic ellipsometry. Their thickness, roughness and optical properties were determined using a Multiple Sample Analysis based approach by the regression analysis of optical model and measured data. These samples were then compared to samples which had undergone ion etching, and it was observed that etching time up to four minutes had no discernible impact on its optical properties. Line shape analysis of resulting absorption coefficient dispersion revealed that ZnGa₂O₄exhibited both direct and indirect interband transitions. The modified Cody formalism was employed to determine their optical bandgaps. These values were found to be in good agreement with values obtained using other popular bandgap extrapolation procedures.