Characteristics of laser-produced Ge ion fluxes used for modification of semiconductor materials

This paper describes the laser generation of Ge ion fluxes and their application to the modification of semiconductor materials by ion implantation. The Ge ions were produced by ablating solid targets using the PALS high-power iodine laser system at the PALS Research Centre in Prague, operating at its third harmonic frequency (438 nm wavelength) and producing 0.4 ns pulses with energy up to 0.25 kJ (intensity≤10¹⁵ W/cm²). The goal of these investigations was optimisation of the implantation of low and medium energy laser-generated Ge ion fluxes and they were carried out as part of the project PALS000929. Recently, a new repetitive pulse laser system at IPPLM in Warsaw, with a wavelength of 1.06 μm, energy of ～0.8 J in a 3.5 ns-pulse, repetition rate of up to 10 Hz, and intensity on target of up to 10¹¹ W/cm², has also been employed to produce Ge ions by irradiating solid targets. The laser-generated ions were investigated with diagnostics based on the time-of-flight method: various ion collectors and an electrostatic ion-energy analyzer. The Ge ion fluxes were implanted into Si and SiO₂ substrates located at distances of 10–30 cm from the target. The SiO₂ films were prepared on single crystal Si substrates and were implanted with Ge ions with different properties. The properties of the Ge-implanted layers, in particular, the depth distributions of implanted Ge ions, were characterised using Rutherford backscattering and other material surface diagnostic methods.