The electronic structure of <i>ε</i>-Ga2O3

Abstract

The electronic structure of ε-Ga2O3 thin films has been investigated by ab initio calculations and photoemission spectroscopy with UV, soft, and hard X-rays to probe the surface and bulk properties. The latter measurements reveal a peculiar satellite structure in the Ga 2p core level spectrum, absent at the surface, and a core-level broadening that can be attributed to photoelectron recoil. The photoemission experiments indicate that the energy separation between the valence band and the Fermi level is about 4.4 eV, a valence band maximum at the Γ point and an effective mass of the highest lying bands of – 4.2 free electron masses. The value of the bandgap compares well with that obtained by optical experiments and with that obtained by calculations performed using a hybrid density-functional, which also reproduce well the dispersion and density of states.