Agnitron Presents Scalable MOCVD Gallium Oxide Advances at IWGO-6

Chanhassen, Minnesota —

Agnitron Technology, Inc. participated in the 6th International Workshop on Gallium Oxide and Related Materials (IWGO-6), held August 2–7, 2026, in College Park, Maryland. IWGO-6 brought together researchers from around the world to discuss advances in Ga₂O₃ and related ultra-wide-bandgap materials, from fundamental science and epitaxial growth to processing and device technology.

Agnitron was represented by Dr. Fikadu Alema, Principal Scientist, and Mr. William Brand, Senior Process Engineer, who presented two technical contributions highlighting progress in nitrogen doping, substrate–epitaxy interface control, and the scale-up of MOCVD growth for β-Ga₂O₃ devices.

Controllable nitrogen doping for β-Ga₂O₃

Dr. Alema presented “Nitrogen Precursor Selection for Controllable Doping in MOCVD Ga₂O₃,” honoring the late Prof. Stephen J. Pearton of the University of Florida and his major contributions to gallium oxide and wide-bandgap semiconductor research. Agnitron’s team collaborated with Prof. Pearton for many years and coauthored several publications with him.

The work compared nitrous oxide (N₂O), nitric oxide diluted in nitrogen (NO/N₂), and ammonia diluted in nitrogen (NH₃/N₂) as nitrogen sources for MOCVD-grown β-Ga₂O₃. Nitrogen acts as a deep acceptor that can compensate unintentional n-type conductivity, including parasitic silicon-related conduction at the substrate–epitaxy interface.

Based on material-quality, chemical, and electrical analyses, the study identified dilute NH₃/N₂ as the strongest overall choice for efficient, direct, repeatable, and controllable nitrogen incorporation. Although hydrogen co-incorporation was observed with the nitrogen sources, it did not prevent the intended carrier-compensation behavior. This level of control is important for localized compensation layers, semi-insulating buffers, and interface-engineered FET structures.

Large-area MOCVD growth and repeatable FET structures

Mr. William Brand presented “MOCVD Growth and Characterization of β-Ga₂O₃ Field Effect Transistors Grown on 2-inch (010) Substrates.” The work summarized results from a recently completed Air Force Research Laboratory Direct-to-Phase II SBIR program focused on scaling MOCVD growth of epitaxial β-Ga₂O₃ to larger wafers.

Using the Agnitron Agilis 700 MOCVD platform with a large showerhead developed under the program, the team demonstrated uniform growth on 2-inch and 4-inch substrates, together with smooth and uniform surfaces across 2-inch (010) wafers. A nitrogen-doped buffer layer grown using dilute NH₃/N₂ effectively suppressed parasitic interface conduction, producing no measurable interface charge in the reported capacitance–voltage profiles. The presentation also highlighted wafer-to-wafer and run-to-run repeatability of FET structures grown in the large-area reactor.

Together, the two Agnitron presentations connected precursor selection with device-scale performance: controllable nitrogen incorporation enables effective interface compensation, while scalable reactor design supports the uniformity and repeatability required for larger-area β-Ga₂O₃ technology.

Research achievements enabled by Agnitron MOCVD platforms

Agnitron’s Agilis 100 and Agilis 500 MOCVD systems are deployed at various research institutions worldwide. Examples include the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and leading universities such as Cornell University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, The Ohio State University, and the University of Bristol. Several key results presented at IWGO-6 highlighted the important role of Agnitron’s Agilis platforms in advancing β-Ga₂O₃ materials and device technologies.

A Cornell University team led by Prof. Hari Nair reported record low-temperature mobility in MOCVD-grown β-(AlₓGa₁₋ₓ)₂O₃/β-Ga₂O₃ heterostructures. The two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) reached a mobility of approximately 2,914 cm²/V·s at 45 K, and the team observed Shubnikov–de Haas quantum oscillations below 5 K.

A team led by Prof. Hongping Zhao at The Ohio State University presented MOCVD growth of smooth (011) β-Ga₂O₃ drift layers up to 20 µm thick. Schottky barrier diodes fabricated on the layers exhibited near-ideal forward characteristics, including an ideality factor of 1.02, together with reverse breakdown voltages of approximately 740 V.

These achievements—spanning quantum transport, thick drift-layer growth, interface engineering, and large-area device structures—underscore the growing role of Agnitron’s MOCVD reactors in advancing gallium oxide electronics.

About Agnitron Technology

Agnitron Technology, Inc. is a compound semiconductor equipment company serving research, development, and production users of metal-organic chemical vapor deposition technology. Agnitron develops MOCVD platforms, process solutions, and technical services that enable advanced semiconductor materials and devices for power electronics, RF, photonics, and other emerging applications.

For more information about Agnitron Technology and the Agilis series of MOCVD systems, please email questions to sales@agnitron.com