Ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductors and ultra-thin two-dimensional materials (2D) are at the very frontier of the electronics for energy management or energy electronics. A new generation of UWBG semiconductors will open new territories for higher power rated power electronics and deeper ultraviolet optoelectronics. Gallium oxide - Ga2O3 (4.5-4.9 eV), has recently emerged as a suitable platform for extending the limits which are set by conventional (~3 eV) WBG e.g. SiC and GaN and transparent conductive oxides (TCO) e.g. In2O3, ZnO, SnO2. Besides, Ga2O3, the first efficient oxide semiconductor for energy electronics, is opening the door to many more semiconductor oxides (indeed, the largest family of UWBGs) to be investigated. Among these new power electronic materials, ZnGa2O4 (~5 eV) enables bipolar energy electronics, based on a spinel chemistry, for the first time. In the lower power rating end, power consumption also is also a main issue for modern computers and supercomputers. With the predicted end of the Moore’s law, the memory wall and the heat wall, new electronics materials and new computing paradigms are required to balance the big data (information) and energy requirements, just as the human brain does. Atomically thin 2D-materials, and the rich associated material systems (e.g. graphene (metal), MoS2 (semiconductor) and h-BN (insulator)), have also attracted a lot of attention recently for beyond-silicon neuromorphic computing with record ultra-low power consumption. Thus, energy nanoelectronics based on UWBG and 2D materials are simultaneously extending the current frontiers of electronics and addressing the issue of electricity consumption, a central theme in the actions against climate change.
Oxides represent the largest family of wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductors and also offer a huge potential range of complementary magnetic and electronic properties, such as ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, antiferroelectricity and high-temperature superconductivity. Here, we review our integration of WBG and ultra WBG semiconductor oxides into different solar cells architectures where they have the role of transparent conductive electrodes and/or barriers bringing unique functionalities into the structure such above bandgap voltages or switchable interfaces. We also give an overview of the state-of-the-art and perspectives for the emerging semiconductor β- Ga2O3, which is widely forecast to herald the next generation of power electronic converters because of the combination of an UWBG with the capacity to conduct electricity. This opens unprecedented possibilities for the monolithic integration in solar cells of both self-powered logic and power electronics functionalities. Therefore, WBG and UWBG oxides have enormous promise to become key enabling technologies for the zero emissions smart integration of the internet of things.
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