Gallium oxide (Ga2O3) is emerging as a viable candidate for certain classes of power electronics, solar blind UV photodetectors, solar cells, and sensors with capabilities beyond existing technologies due to its large bandgap. It is usually reported that there are five different polymorphs of Ga2O3, namely, the monoclinic (β-Ga2O3), rhombohedral (α), defective spinel (γ), cubic (δ), or orthorhombic (ε) structures. Of these, the β-polymorph is the stable form under normal conditions and has been the most widely studied and utilized. Since melt growth techniques can be used to grow bulk crystals of β-GaO3, the cost of producing larger area, uniform substrates is potentially lower compared to the vapor growth techniques used to manufacture bulk crystals of GaN and SiC. The performance of technologically important high voltage rectifiers and enhancement-mode Metal-Oxide Field Effect Transistors benefit from the larger critical electric field of β-Ga2O3 relative to either SiC or GaN. However, the absence of clear demonstrations of p-type doping in Ga2O3, which may be a fundamental issue resulting from the band structure, makes it very difficult to simultaneously achieve low turn-on voltages and ultra-high breakdown. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent advances in the growth, processing, and device performance of the most widely studied polymorph, β-Ga2O3. The role of defects and impurities on the transport and optical properties of bulk, epitaxial, and nanostructures material, the difficulty in p-type doping, and the development of processing techniques like etching, contact formation, dielectrics for gate formation, and passivation are discussed. Areas where continued development is needed to fully exploit the properties of Ga2O3 are identified.

The role of extended and point defects, and key impurities such as C, O, and H, on the electrical and optical properties of GaN is reviewed. Recent progress in the development of high reliability contacts, thermal processing, dry and wet etching techniques, implantation doping and isolation, and gate insulator technology is detailed. Finally, the performance of GaN-based electronic and photonic devices such as field effect transistors, UV detectors, laser diodes, and light-emitting diodes is covered, along with the influence of process-induced or grown-in defects and impurities on the device physics.

Recent advances in the theory and experimental realization of ferromagnetic semiconductors give hope that a new generation of microelectronic devices based on the spin degree of freedom of the electron can be developed. This review focuses primarily on promising candidate materials ͑such as GaN, GaP and ZnO͒ in which there is already a technology base and a fairly good understanding of the basic electrical and optical properties. The introduction of Mn into these and other materials under the right conditions is found to produce ferromagnetism near or above room temperature.There are a number of other potential dopant ions that could be employed ͑such as Fe, Ni, Co, Cr͒ as suggested by theory ͓see, for example, Sato and Katayama-Yoshida, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Part 2 39, L555 ͑2000͔͒. Growth of these ferromagnetic materials by thin film techniques, such as molecular beam epitaxy or pulsed laser deposition, provides excellent control of the dopant concentration and the ability to grow single-phase layers. The mechanism for the observed magnetic behavior is complex and appears to depend on a number of factors, including Mn-Mn spacing, and carrier density and type. For example, in a simple Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida carrier-mediated exchange mechanism, the free-carrier/Mn ion interaction can be either ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic depending on the separation of the Mn ions. Potential applications for ferromagnetic semiconductors and oxides include electrically controlled magnetic sensors and actuators, high-density ultralow-power memory and logic, spin-polarized light emitters for optical encoding, advanced optical switches and modulators and devices with integrated magnetic, electronic and optical functionality.

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The sensitivity for detecting hydrogen with multiple ZnO nanorods is found to be greatly enhanced by sputter-depositing clusters of Pd on the surface. The resulting structures show a change in room- temperature resistance upon exposure to hydrogen concentrations in N2 of 10–500ppm of approximately a factor of 5 larger than without Pd. Pd-coated ZnO nanorods detected hydrogen down to <10ppm, with relative responses of >2.6% at 10ppm and >4.2% at 500ppm H2 in N2 after a 10min exposure. There was no response at room temperature to O2. Approximately 95% of the initial ZnO conductance after exposure to hydrogen was recovered within 20s by exposing the nanorods to either air or pure O2. This rapid and easy recoverability make the Pd-coated nanorods suitable for practical applications in hydrogen-selective sensing at ppm levels at room temperature with <0.4mW power consumption.