Synergistic LPCVD and PECVD Growth of β-Ga2O3 Thin Films for High-Sensitivity and Low-Dose Direct X-Ray Detection

Ultra-wide bandgap β-Ga2O3 is a promising low-cost alternative to conventional direct X-ray detector materials that are limited by fabrication complexity, instability, or slow temporal response. Here, we comparatively investigate β-Ga2O3 thin films grown on c-sapphire by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) and plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD), establishing a quantitative linkage between growth kinetics, microstructure, defect landscape, and X-ray detection figures of merit. The LPCVD-grown film (thickness ≈ 0.289 μm) exhibits layered coalesced grains, a narrower rocking curve (FWHM = 1.840°), and deep-level oxygen-vacancy-assisted high photoconductive gain, yielding a high sensitivity of 1.02 × 105 μC Gyair−1 cm−2 at 20 V and a thickness-normalized sensitivity of 3.539 × 105 μCGyair−1 cm−2 μm−1. In contrast, the PECVD-grown film (≈1.57 μm) shows dense columnar growth, higher O/Ga stoichiometric proximity, and shallow-trap dominance, enabling a lower dark current, superior dose detection limit (30.13 vs. 57.07 nGyair s−1), faster recovery, and monotonic SNR improvement with bias. XPS and dual exponential transient analysis corroborate a deep-trap persistent photoconductivity mechanism in LPCVD versus moderated shallow trapping in PECVD. The resulting high-gain vs. low-noise complementary paradigm clarifies defect–gain trade spaces and provides a route to engineer β-Ga2O3 thin-film X-ray detectors that simultaneously target high sensitivity, low dose limit, and temporal stability through trap and electric field management.