Pulsed Electron Beam Deposition (PEBD) and Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) were used to grow Gallium Oxide (Ga2O3) thin films on double sided polished sapphire substrates. At 850°C substrate temperature, smooth single crystal β-Ga2O3 films were obtained, which were confirmed with measurements by AFM of RMS surface roughness of about 1 nm. When characterized under electron beam excitation, the films exhibited different responses. For example: Europium doped films emitted intense red emission from 5D0 to 7Fj transitions while exhibiting weak broad emission from 300 to 500 nm. In contrast, Erbium doped films emitted strong emission from 300 to 500 nm peaked at 360 nm that was attributed to defects in the host matrix. Green emission from the Erbium transitions was observed at 528 and 550 nm. Films with different rare earth compositions varying from 0.1 % to 0.4 % were also prepared.
High quality natural waveguides were formed with the deposited Ga2O3 films on the lower refractive index substrate sapphire. This was confirmed by measuring the refractive index by prism coupling and sharp coupling spectra.