Monoclinic β-Ga2O3, an ultra-wide bandgap semiconductor, has seen enormous activity in recent years. However, the fundamental study of the plasmon-phonon coupling that dictates electron transport properties has not been possible due to the difficulty in achieving higher carrier density (without introducing chemical disorder). Here, we report a highly reversible, electrostatic doping of β-Ga2O3 films with tunable carrier densities using ion-gel-gated electric double-layer transistor configuration. Combining temperature-dependent Hall effect measurements, transport modeling, and comprehensive mobility calculations using ab initio based electron-phonon scattering rates, we demonstrate an increase in the room-temperature mobility to 201 cm2 V-1 s-1 followed by a surprising decrease with an increasing carrier density due to the plasmon-phonon coupling. The modeling and experimental data further reveal an important "antiscreening" (of electron-phonon interaction) effect arising from dynamic screening from the hybrid plasmon-phonon modes. Our calculations show that a significantly higher room-temperature mobility of 300 cm2 V-1 s-1 is possible if high electron densities (>1020 cm-3) with plasmon energies surpassing the highest energy LO mode can be realized. As Ga2O3 and other polar semiconductors play an important role in several device applications, the fundamental understanding of the plasmon-phonon coupling can lead to the enhancement of mobility by harnessing the dynamic screening of the electron-phonon interactions.
Keywords: ab initio modeling; electrolyte gating; plasmon−phonon coupling; transport techniques; ultra-wide bandgap semiconductors.