Compared to the widely investigated crystalline polymorphs of gallium oxide ( \({\text {Ga}_{2}\text {O}_{3}}\) ), knowledge about its amorphous state is very limited. With the help of a machine-learning interatomic potential, we conducted large-scale atomistic simulations to investigate the formation and plastic behavior of amorphous \({\text {Ga}_{2}\text {O}_{3}}\) (a- \({\text {Ga}_{2}\text {O}_{3}}\) ). Amorphization of gallium oxide melt is successfully observed at ultrahigh cooling rates, including a distinct glass transition. The glass transition temperature is evaluated to range from 1234 to 1348 K at different cooling rates. Structural analysis shows similarities between a- \({\text {Ga}_{2}\text {O}_{3}}\) and amorphous alumina (a- \({\text {Al}_{2}\text {O}_{3}}\) ) in many aspects, including pair distribution function, coordination distribution, and bond angle distribution. In the tension simulations, highly plastic behavior at room temperature is observed, highly comparable to a- \({\text {Al}_{2}\text {O}_{3}}\) . Based on multiple quantitative characterization results, we show that a- \({\text {Ga}_{2}\text {O}_{3}}\) exhibits a higher nucleation rate of localized plastic strain events compared to a- \(\text {Al}_{2}\text {O}_{3}\) , which can increase the material’s resistance to shear banding formation during deformation.
