M-Era.net project acronym: ZMOMUVS
Project coordinator –Prof. Mitch Chou (National Sun Yay-Sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan)
Leader of the Latvian partner –Dr. Laima Trinkler (ISSP UL, Riga, Latvia)
Deep UV photon sensors based on wide bandgap semiconductors can be used as biological and chemical sensors for ozone detection, detectors for water purification, determination of pollution levels in any biological agent. The concept of this project is to use the ZnO-MgO pseudobinary system, which has tunable bandgap from 3.3 eV to 7.8eV, thus significantly enhancing the ability of the sensor to detect signals at different energies simultaneously. The limitation of ZnO and MgO mutual solubilities can be broken by stablizing the high MgO-content wurtzite Zn1-xMgxO and high ZnO-content rocksalt Zn1-xMgxO epilayers by using low lattice mismatch substrates such as ScAlMgO4, MgO and Cu2O.
The international consortium includes five partners: Partners 1 & 5 (Taiwan) will be responsible for the growth of single crystal substrate and epitaxial growth of ultra-wide bandgap Zn1-xMgxO epilayers/heterostructures as well as fabrication of solar-blind UV photon sensor devices. Partners 2-4 (Latvia & Lithuania) study optical and electical properties, and provide feedback of the optimal growth parameters. Besides, Partner 2 fulfills computer modelling of the material structure, providing the theoretical support of the project. Participation in this project will help to increase technology readiness level of all partners: up to TRL 4 in Taiwan and TRL 3 in Latvia and Lithuania. We believe this project will bring benefits for each partner and provide new contributions to the European society.