In the last few years, interest in the use of gallium oxide (Ga2O3) as a semiconductor for high power/high temperature devices and UV nano-sensors has grown. Ga2O3 has an enormous band gap of 4.8 eV, which makes it well suited for applications in harsh environments. In this work, we explored the effect of Ag thin film as a catalyst to grow gallium oxide. The growth of gallium oxide thin film and nanowires can be achieved by heating and oxidizing pure gallium at high temperatures (~1000 °C) in the presence of trace amounts of oxygen. We present the results of structural, morphological, and elemental characterization of the β-Ga2O3 thin film and nanowires. In addition, we explore and compare the sensing properties of the β-Ga2O3 thin film and nanowires for UV detection. The proposed process can be optimized to a high scale production Ga2O3 nanocrystalline thin film and nanowires. By using Ag thin film as a catalyst, we can control the growth parameters to obtain either nanocrystalline thin film or nanowires.
Keywords: Ga2O3; nanowires; quartz; silver catalyst; thermal oxidation; thin film.