Simulation of diffusion instability of a mercury atomic distribution in the cadmium-mercury-tellurium alloy

The formation of inhomogeneities in Cd_xHg_1-x Te alloys upon post-growth cooling or upon low-temperature annealing is simulated numerically. The mechanism of the formation of inhomogeneities is based on the diffusion instability in a system involving mercury atoms located at lattice sites, interstitial mercury atoms, and cation vacancies. It is revealed that, upon prolonged annealing of the Cd_xHg_1-x Te alloys with a cadmium content x = 0.2 at a temperature of ∼200°C, the concentrations of mercury atoms at lattice sites, interstitial mercury atoms, and vacancies are characterized by an inhomogeneous nearly periodical distribution arising from a small fluctuation when the initial equilibrium concentration of interstitial mercury atoms exceeds a threshold value (∼3 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³). The spatial and time scales of the concentration distribution are determined primarily by the equilibrium concentration of vacancies and do not depend on the type of fluctuation involved. The spatial period of the concentration distribution increases linearly from 0.01 to 3.00 μm as the equilibrium concentration of vacancies changes from 10¹⁹ to 10¹⁴ cm⁻³. At lower concentrations of vacancies, the periodic structure is formed for a considerably longer time.     

Investigation of X-ray diffraction limitations upon the analysis of tellurium-atom injection into GaAs epitaxial layers

GaAs lattice “superdilation” caused by an introduced tellurium impurity, which is well known in publications, is experimentally studied. This phenomenon consists in the fact that the GaAs-lattice dilation can be more than 10 times greater than expansion that would appear upon the replacement of arsenic atoms with tellurium atoms if calculations are performed using the current-carrier concentration and Vegard’s law. The given phenomenon has already been observed at n _Te > 3 × 10¹⁸ cm^–3. A series of GaAs epitaxial layers heavily doped with tellurium and grown via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition are investigated using high-resolution X-ray diffractometry (HRXRD), secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and the Hall effect. It is demonstrated that, despite a high Te concentration (10²⁰?10²¹ cm^–3) in the layer and variations in the growth conditions, the concentration estimates based on HRXRD data depend linearly on the results of elemental analysis performed by means of SIMS. The GaAs lattice expands even somewhat slighter as compared to the case where arsenic atoms are replaced with all Te atoms injected into the layer. At the same time, the Hall carrier concentration decreases sharply beginning at 2 × 10²⁰ cm^–3. In accordance with the obtained results, the examined phenomenon can be interpreted as the strong compensation of donor and acceptor carriers rather than as superdilation.     

Effect of MeV electron irradiation on the free volume of polyimide

The free volume of the microvoids in the polyimide samples, irradiated with 6 MeV electrons, was measured by the positron annihilation technique. The free volume initially decreased the virgin value from ～13.70 to ～10.98 Å³ and then increased to ～18.11 Å³ with increasing the electron fluence, over the range of 5?×?10¹⁴ – 5?×?10¹⁵ e/cm². The evolution of gaseous species from the polyimide during electron irradiation was confirmed by the residual gas analysis technique. The polyimide samples irradiated with 6 MeV electrons in AgNO₃ solution were studied with the Rutherford back scattering technique. The diffusion of silver in these polyimide samples was observed for fluences >2?×?10¹⁵ e/cm², at which microvoids of size ≥3 Å are produced. Silver atoms did not diffuse in the polyimide samples, which were first irradiated with electrons and then immersed in AgNO₃ solution. These results indicate that during electron irradiation, the microvoids with size ≥3 Å were retained in the surface region through which silver atoms of size ～2.88 Å could diffuse into the polyimide. The average depth of diffusion of silver atoms in the polyimide was ～2.5 μm.     

The GaP(001) surface and the adsorption of Cs

GaP(001) cleaned by argon-ion bombardment and annealed at 500°C showed the Ga-stabilized GaP(001)(4 × 2) structure. Only treatment in 10^?5 Torr PH₃ at 500°C gave the P-stabilized GaP(001)(1 × 2) structure. The AES peak ratio $\text{P}\text{Ga}$ is 2 for the (4 × 2) and 3.5 for the (1 × 2) structure. Cs adsorbs with a sticking probability of unity up to 5 × 10¹⁴ Cs atoms cm^?2 and a lower one at higher coverages. The photoemission measured with uv light of 3660 Å showed a maximum at the coverage of 5 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2. Cs adsorbs amorphously at room temperature, but heat treatment gives ordered structures, which are thought to be reconstructed GaP(001) structures induced by Cs. The LEED patterns showed the GaP(001)(1 × 2) Cs structure formed at 180°C for 10 h with a Cs coverage of 5 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, the GaP(001)(1 × 4) Cs formed at 210°C for 10 hours with a Cs coverage of 2.7 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, the GaP(001)(7 × 1) and the high temperature GaP(001)(1 × 4), the latter two with very low Cs content. Desorption measurements show three stability regions: (a) between 25–150°C for coverages greater than 5 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, and an activation energy of 1.2 eV; (b) between 180–200°C with a coverage of 5 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, and an activation energy of 1.8 eV; (c) between 210–400°C with a coverage of 2.7 × 10¹⁴ atoms cm^?2, and an activation energy of 2.5 eV.     

Depth profiling of D implanted into Ti at different temperatures

Depth proliles of 6.6 keV D⁺ implanted into titanium in the temperature range between 140 K and 500 K have been studied using the D(³He, α) H nuclear reaction.

At 140 K the trapped amount is close to 100% at low doses and reaches saturation at about 2 × 10¹⁸D/cm², whereas at room temperature no saturation could be reached up to 2 × 10¹⁹ D/cm². At higher temperatures the amount decreases until no deuterium could be detected in the surface layer above 500 K.

The depth profiles are strongly dependent on temperature. At 140 K the deuterium is found in a surface layer of about 2000 Å with a maximum ratio of deuterium to metal atoms of 2.5. At room temperature a hydride layer of TiD^1.8, forms. The thickness of the hydride layer depends on deuterium dose and extends to 1.5 μm at 2 × 10¹⁹ D/cm². At higher temperatures the atom concentrations are lower and the deuterium seems to diffuse deeply into the bulk.

These results are discussed in terms of diffusion of deuterium i n Ti and titanium hydride.     

Lattice site location and electronic structure of Te in GaAs

High purity <100> wafers of GaAs were implanted with radioactive^129mTe and stable¹²⁸Te at 110 keV to total doses of 2×10¹⁴ and 2×10¹⁵ Te/cm² respectively and studied with RBS/ channeling and Mössbauer spectroscopy on the 27.8 keV level of¹²⁹I. After implantation and/or annealing at temperatures between 200–300°C the Mössbauer spectra are dominated by a single line. Channeling reveals an appreciable residual damage in the host lattice, but also points to a substitutional position of the Te atoms. After annealing above ≌500°C, where nearly complete lattice damage recovery is obtained, the Te atoms become defect-associated. The results clearly point to the formation of Te_As?V_Ga complexes.     

Transmutation doping of GaAs by thermal neutrons

The electrical properties of GaAs have been modified by transmutation of about 1 × 10¹⁸ As atoms per cm³ to Se and 0.7 × 10¹⁸ Ga atoms per cm³ to Ge in a flux of thermal neutrons, followed by annealing at temperatures from 625 to 900°C. Enhancement of carrier concentration was not observed in n⁺ samples, although p and n^? material showed changes in carrier concentration of the expected magnitude.     

Formation of ordered helium pores in amorphous silicon subjected to low-energy helium ion irradiation

Thin transparent (for transmission electron microscopy, TEM) self-supported Si(001) films are irradiated on the (110) end face by low-energy (E=17 keV) He⁺ ions at doses ranging from 5×10¹⁶ to 4.5×10¹⁷ cm⁻² at room temperature. The TEM study of the irradiated Si films along the ion range shows that an a-Si layer forms in the most heavily damaged region and helium pores (bubbles) with a density of up to 3×10¹⁷ cm⁻³ and 2–5 nm in diameter nucleate and grow across the entire width of this layer. The growth of nanopores in the a-Si layer is accompanied by their linear ordering into chains oriented along the ion tracks. The absence of pores in the region that remains crystalline and has the maximal concentration of implanted helium is explained by the desorption of helium atoms from the thin film during the irradiation. After annealing at 600°C, the volume of immobile pores in the remaining a-Si layer increases owing to the capture of helium atoms from the amorphous matrix. Solid solution is shown to be the prevalent state of the helium implanted into the amorphous silicon. Linear features with a diameter close to 1 nm and density of about 10⁷ cm⁻¹ discovered in the helium-doped a-Si layer are identified as low-energy He⁺ ion tracks.     

Beam transport

Abstract

Dopant distribution, electrical activity and damage annealing of high-dose (～5 × 10¹⁵ cm²) Ga-implanted silicon samples annealed by conventional thermal annealing have been studied by alpha particle back-scattering, differential Hall effect and ellipsometry measurements. Back-scattering spectra show that there is no long tail of Ga atoms in the as-implanted samples. Upon annealing these samples the damaged amorphous layer recrystallizes at about 570°C by solid phase epitaxy. During the epitaxial regrowth the dopant atom distribution seems to be modified. Further, very high levels of electrical activaton of Ga-atoms (～3 × 10²⁰ cm^?3), much higher than the maximum solubility limit of Ga in Si (4.5 × 10¹⁹ cm^?3), is achieved by thermal annealing of the sample at ～570°C. This is comparable to the doping achieved by laser annealing of the Ga implanted Si. All the above three measurements show that there is residual damage in the high dose (?10¹⁵cm^?2) implanted samples after the recrystallization at about 570°C. This may be related to strain in the lattice at the high concentrations of metastable substitutional Ga atoms. Annealing at higher temperature reduces the electrical activity of Ga atoms, possibly by driving out the metastably high substitutional concentrations of Ga-atoms into electrically inactive clusters or precipitates.     

GaSb layers with low defect density deposited on (001) GaAs substrate in two-dimensional growth mode using molecular beam epitaxy

We report on the growth of fully relaxed and smooth GaSb layers with reduced density of threading dislocations, deposited on GaAs substrate. We prove that three parameters have to be controlled in order to obtain applicable GaSb buffers with atomically smooth surface: interfacial misfit (IMF), the etch pit density (EPD) and the growth mode.The GaSb/GaAs interfacial misfit array and reduced EPD ≤1.0 × 10⁷ cm^?2 were easily obtained using As-flux reduction for 3 min and Sb-soaking surface for 10 s before the GaSb growth initiation. The successive growth of GaSb layer proceeded under the technological conditions described by the wide range of the following parameters: r_G ∈ (1.5 ÷ 1.9) Å/s, T_G ∈ (400 ÷ 520)°C, V/III ∈ (2.3 ÷ 3.5). Unfortunately, a spiral or 3D growth modes were observed for this material resulting in the surface roughness of 1.1 ÷ 3.0 nm. Two-dimensional growth mode (layer by layer) can only be achieved under the strictly defined conditions. In our case, the best quality 1-μm-thick GaSb buffer layer with atomically smooth surface was obtained for the following set of parameters: r_G = 1.5 Å/s, T_G = 530 °C, V/III = 2.9. The layer was characterized by the strain relaxation over 99.6%, 90° dislocations array with the average distance of 5.56 nm, EPD ～8.0 × 10⁶ cm^?2 and 2D undulated terraces on the surface with roughness of about 1 ML. No mounds were observed. We belive that only thin and smooth GaSb layer with reduced EPD may be applied as the buffer layer in complex device heterostructures. Otherwise, it may cause the device parameters deterioration.     

Hole-phonon scattering in zinc doped GaSb

The phonon thermal conductivity values in Zn-doped GaSb are explained for hole concentrations ranging from 2 × 10¹⁷ to 4 × 10¹⁹ cm^-3. The concentration dependence of thermal conductivity above 3 × 10¹⁸ cm^-3 is similar to other doped materials and is explained by considering the scattering of phonons by free electrons (holes) given by Ziman and Kosarev and applying the screening effects suggested by Crossby and Grenier. The density-of-states effective mass is kept constant and the dilatation deformation potential is found to increase with hole concentration. For impurity concentrations less than 3 × 10¹⁸ cm^-3, the thermal conductivity is found to increase with hole concentration. Since this concentration region is below the metal-insulator transition, the theory of scattering of phonons by holes bound to the impurity atoms explains the conductivity results. The values of acceptor hole radius and deformation potential constants are in agreement with the experimental values.     

Evidence of complex positron-ammonia interaction in ammonia gas

Positron annihilation in ammonia gas at temperatures of ?19°C, 22,5°C, and 95°C in the density range 1.76 × 10^?4 g/cm³ to 6.63 × 10^?3 g/cm³ is investigated. ¹Z_eff for orthopositronium annihilation is 0.58 ± 0.04 Z_eff/ Z for positrons not forming positronium varies from about 117 to 1329.     

Trap characterization for Bi4Ti3O12 thin films by thermally stimulated currents

Thermally stimulated current (TSC) measurements performed in the 100 K–400 K temperature range on Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ (BiT) thin films annealed at 550 °C and 700 °C had revealed two trapping levels having activation energies of 0.55 eV and 0.6 eV. The total trap concentration was estimated at 10¹⁵ cm⁻³ for the samples annealed at 550 °C and 3×10¹⁵ cm⁻³ for a 700 °C annealing and the trap capture cross-section was estimated about 10⁻¹⁸ cm². From the temperature dependence of the dark current in the temperature range 20 °C–120 °C the conduction mechanism activation energy was found to be about 0.956–0.978 eV. The electrical conductivity depends not only on the sample annealing temperature but also whether the measurement is performed in vacuum or air. The results on the dark conductivity are discussed considering the influence of oxygen atoms and oxygen vacancies. Received: 28 January 1998 / Accepted: 8 January 1999 / Published online: 5 May 1999     

Energy spectrum of (Sn0.65Pb0.35)0.95Ge0.05Te solid solutions

The paper reports the study on the resistivity ρ and thermoemf S of the (Sn_0.65Pb_0.35)_0.95Ge_0.05Te solid solution layers. The dependences of ρ and S on the hole concentrations in the range 3×10¹⁹–2×10²¹ cm^?3 exhibit jumps in the resistivity and thermoemf minima at close hole concentrations p ₁≈9×10¹⁹ cm^?3, p ₂≈2.5×10²⁰ cm^?3, and p ₃≈4.5×10²⁰ cm^?3. The observed jumps and minima suggest a complex structure of the valence band and the presence of critical points in the energy spectrum of holes. According to the data for SnTe, the critical points in the energy spectrum at the given hole concentrations are identified as the Σ-extremum, saddle point LΣ, and Δ-extremum, respectively.     

Evaporated a-Si films with low ESR defect density by hydrogenation under NH3 ambient

a-Si films were obtained by a reactive evaporation of Si atoms with an electron gun, under a NH₃ ambient of 5 × 10^?5 torr. The H introduced amount efficiently reduces the ESR dangling bond density from 4 × 10¹⁹ cm^?3 in pure samples to 2 × 10¹⁷ cm^?3. The hydrogen presence is evidence by both the Si-H infrared bands and the strong spin-density increase with annealing. This increase, beginning at a temperature of 350°C, is attributed to the H effusion. XPS measurements show also an incorporation of bonded nitrogen.     

Stark shift of the CI 2479 Å spectral line of carbon

The Stark shift of the CI 2479 Å emission line of atomic carbon is measured in a broad range of electron densities between ~6 × 10¹⁶ and ~4 × 10¹⁸ cm^–3. It is established that the shift is linear and its value is significantly lower than that predicted by theory. The line shape is found to be dominated by the Stark effect at Т = 32 kK and electron concentration N _e ≈ 3.9 × 10¹⁸ cm^–3. The electron-impact and ion widths of this contour are in good agreement with the Grim data, while its total shift to longer wavelengths is found to be half that calculated theoretically.     

Annealing characteristics of highly doped ion implanted phosphorus layers in silicon

A combination of sheet resistance, stripping and Hall effect measurements have been made on phosphorus layers implanted into silicon at 40 and 100 keV with doses between 1 × 10¹⁵ and 5 × 10¹⁶ atoms/cm². The implants were made at room temperature and 450°C. After annealing at 650°C, the profile of electrically active phosphorus following a high dose room temperature implant, was found to be flat topped with a concentration of approximately 5 × 10²⁰/cm³. Very little diffusion occurred when annealing to 850°C where the free electron concentration increased to approximately 1.5 × 10²¹/cm³. Highly doped channeled tails were found when implanting at 450°C along the 〈110〉 direction and damage was being continuously annealed out preventing the formation of an amorphous phase. The rapid diffusion of the profile into the bulk found when annealing between 650°C and 850°C was speculated to be due to the presence of a dense dislocation entanglement in these layers following a hot implant.     

Damage and lattice location studies in Hg implanted Hg1–xCdxTe

Abstract

Rutherford backscattering (RBS) and ion induced X-ray (PIXE) channeling experiments have been used to study the damage accompanying Hg and Al implantations into Hg_0.8Cd_0.2 Te and its annealing as well as to determine the location of Hg in the crystal.

The damage induced by the implantation of 300 keV Hg and 250 keV Al ions at room temperature was found from RBS channeling studies to reach a saturation level at doses of 1 × 10¹⁴ cm^?2 and 3 × 10¹⁴ cm^?2 respectively. The damage resembles that characteristic for extended defects and it anneals at ≈ 300°C.

The location of the constituents of Hg implanted Hg_0.8 Cd_0.2 Te was studied by PIXE channeling observing the characteristic X-rays for each element. Angular scans indicate that the channels are mostly blocked by Hg atoms for both unannealed and, to a lesser extent, annealed crystals. This observation supports the suggestion that interstitial Hg atoms may be responsible for the conductivity of Hg implanted Hg_1–x Cd_g Te.     

Spin-wave spectroscopy study of spatial magnetization fluctuations in metastable nanocrystalline films of Fe-based alloys

The spectrum of standing spin waves is investigated in nanocrystalline Fe films prepared by the pulsed plasma-spraying method. The dispersion relation of these waves is determined in the wave-vector range (0.2–3.2)×10⁶ cm^?1 and is found to be affected by spatial magnetization fluctuations 100 Å in size. These fluctuations are supported as being due to the inhomogeneous distribution of C atoms in the atomic structure of nanocrystalline Fe films.