Positron annihilation studies of vacancy-type defects

The annihilation radiation of low energy positrons gives information on the electronic and defect structure of solids. There are three conventionally measurable quantities: the positron lifetime, the angular correlation of 2 annihilation radiation and the Doppler-broadened annihilation line shape. In the presence of lattice defects the annihilation characteristics show considerable changes. This is due to positron trapping at defects like vacancies and their agglomerates, voids, dislocations and grain boundaries. The concentration of defects can be deduced from the ratio of trapped and free positrons.The annihilation characteristics are different for different defect configurations. Positrons reveal vacancy agglomeration and the lifetime of trapped positrons gives estimates on the size of microvoids in the range of 2–10 Å. Various examples on the study of equilibrium and non-equilibrium defects, radiation damage and defect annealing are presented. Special emphasis is given to vacancy recovery and vacancy-impurity interactions in electron and neutron irradiated bcc transition metals like Fe, Mo, Nb, Ta.     

Positron annihilation in boron-implanted n-type silicon

The ion damaged effect and subsequent isothermal annealing in boron-implanted Si was studied by positron annihilation lifetime measurements. The mean positron lifetime in preimplanted n-type Si is 243 psec. The variation of mean lifetime is detectable when the implanted boron dose is greater than 1.0x10¹⁵/cm². The saturated mean positron lifetime (247 psec) occurs when the implantation dose reaches 2.5x10¹⁵/cm². The mean electron density of the positron sensitive defects is estimated to be about 85% less than that in the perfect parts of the crystal. Isothermal annealing was held in every 5-minute step at 1000°C. In the first step, the positron lifetime in the implanted sample increases slightly and then decreases completely to its initial state in the 3rd step. Sheet resistance of the sample monitored by 4-point probe method has been found closely related to the positron lifetime.     

Positron annihilation in diamond,silicon and silicon carbide

Recent positron lifetime and doppler broadening results on silicon, diamond and silicon carbide are presented in this contribution. In as-grown Czochralski Si ingols vacancies are found to be retained after growth at concentrations typically around 3×10¹⁶/cm³. 10 MeV eleciron irradiation of variously doped Si wafers shows that only high doping concentrations well in excess of the interstitial oxygen concentration causes an increase in the amount of monovacancies retained.In porous silicon very long-lived positronium lifetimes in the range 40–90 ns are found. Polycrystalline diamond films contain various types of vacancy agglomerates but these are found to be inhomogeneously distributed from crystallite to crystallite. Electron irradiation of silicon carbide results in two vacancy-related lifetimes which are interpreted as resulting from carbon and silicon vacancies.Paper presented at the 132nd WE-Heraeus-Seminar on Positron Studies of Semiconductor Defects, Halle, Germany, 29 August to 2 September 1994     

Positron annihilation studies in ZnO nanoparticles

We report results on positron annihilation spectroscopic (PAS) studies using lifetime and coincidence Doppler broadening techniques in zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (4 to 40 nm) synthesized by solid state pyrolytic reaction followed by annealing in the temperature range of 200 ^°C to 800 ^°C. Positron lifetime in the nanoparticles are observed to be higher than bulk lifetime in all the cases. Theoretical calculation of lifetime indicates the presence of either Zn or (Zn, O) vacancy clusters which migrate and anneal out at high temperature. Comparison of ratio spectra from coincidence Doppler broadening measurement and calculated electron momentum distribution indicates the presence of either Zn or (Zn, O) vacancies. In addition, photoluminescence (PL) measurements have been carried out to examine the role of defects on the intensity of emission in the visible region.     

Positron annihilation studies of defects in 3CSiC hot-implanted with nitrogen and aluminum ions

2 ⁺ and Al⁺ at temperatures from room temperature (RT) to 1200 °C at doses of 10¹³ and 10¹⁵/cm². It is found from Doppler broadening spectra of annihilation gamma-rays obtained by varying the incident positron energy that hot-implantation gives rise to clustering of vacancies, whereas it suppresses amorphization and diminishes the thickness of damaged layers. The average size of such clusters increases with increasing implantation dose and temperature. Vacancy clustering by hot-implantation can be interpreted by the combination of vacancies during implantation. Vacancy type defects in the low-dose (10¹³/cm²) implanted samples are found to be removed by annealing at 1400 °C, whereas large vacancy clusters still remain after 1400 °C annealing in the high-dose (1 0¹⁵/cm²) implanted samples. It is also derived from the depth profile of positron diffusion length that positron scattering centers are produced after annealing at 1400 °C in all implanted samples. Received: 7 March 1997/Accepted: 6 May 1997     

Positron annihilation studies in alpha-irradiated n-type GaP

The positron annihilation technique has been used to study the defect recovery in 22.0 MeV alpha-irradiated n-type GaP. The increase in the lineshape parameter S along with defect specific parameter R between 200 and 350°C indicates the migration of vacancies and the formation of vacancy clusters. The defects start disappearing between 350 and 600°C.     

Positron annihilation studies in alpha-irradiated n-type GaAs

The positron annihilation technique has been used to study the recovery of defects in α-irradiated n-type GaAs. The Doppler broadening lineshape parameter, S, showed, for the first time, the recovery in three steps beginning around 120°C, 300°C and 510°C indicating the presence of three types of defects.     

Positron annihilation study on nanometer cavities in porous silicon

Measurements were carried out on the positron lifetime and the Doppler broadening of its annihilation radiation in porous silicon. A very long lifetime of a few tens of nanoseconds was found. TheS parameter increased upon annealing in vacuum at 350 °C. It is pointed out that positron/positronium spectroscopy is very useful for the study of physical and chemical properties of porous silicon.     

Positron annihilation in silicon crystals with mechanically processed surfaces

The angular correlation curves of the annihilation photons and the probability of three-quantum annihilation in silicon single crystals with mechanically processed surfaces were measured. The narrowing of the angular correlation curves increases and the three-quantum yield decreases with the depth of the surface abrasion. This is tentatively interpreted in terms of formation of positronium states on the surface of the silicon crystals.     

Positron annihilation studies of a conjugated polymer

Lineshapes of the Doppler broadened annihilation radiation (DBAR) of a conjugated polymer polydiacetylene, 4-butoxycarbonylmethylurethane (P-4BCMU), in its amorphous state, were measured over the temperature range of 30 to 190°C. A differential-scanning-calorimeter (DSC) was used to correlate the transition temperatures. The DBAR lineshapes show a distinct change during the structural transitions of the polymer. A two states trapping model is used to qualitatively describe the temperature dependence of the lineshape. The nature of formation of the trapped states of positrons above T_c, through the interplay of electronic structure/conformation change, is discussed.     

Positron annihilation spectroscopy in tomorrow's material defect studies

Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy (PAS), sometimes refered to as Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS), are non-destructive techniques commonly used for defects and voids study in materials. It provides a handy tool for in-depth profiling down to few microns, and in determining open volume defects like dislocation, agglomerates, and vacancies at ppm concentration. PAS with the aid of Doppler broadening has certainly opened a new gateway in the spectroscopy of solid state physics, metals, RO systems, and semiconductors. Since it is an antiparticle of the electron it gives better information on the electron density in the material of interest. The lifetime of a positron is a complex function of electron density present at the annihilation site. To add beauty, in principle PAS gives the type and concentration of the defect independently by a single measurement. This article presents PAS based on the most relevant, most iconic, and most recent references.     

Positron annihilation studies in Fe doped SiC materials

Positron annihilation lineshape studies have been made in 5%, 10%, 20% and 30% iron doped SiC specimens sintered at 1050°C and 1100°C at hydrogen atmosphere and at 1100°C in vacuum. The annihilation lineshape parameter, S, remains constant for the first three doping concentrations for every sintered condition and increases sharply for the 30% case. The increase in the S value could be a signature of the structural phase change in the system.     

Positron annihilation at defects in sintered high-T c perovskite superconductors

We report positron lifetime measurements in sintered superconducting YBa₂Cu₃O_7–x and GdBa₂Cu₃O_7–x oxides. It is shown that the thermal behaviour of the positron lifetime spectra strongly depends on the preparation of the ceramics. A lifetime of 190±3 ps is attributed to oxygen deficient regions. Two lifetimes of 251±7 ps and 225 ±5 ps are attributed to a cation vacancy presenting a temperature dependent atomic arrangement. The lifetime transition (251225ps) occurs during decreases in temperature across the resistivity superconducting transition. This lifetime change indicates that the volume of the cation vacancy decreases in the superconducting state.     

Positron annihilation in copper

Electron momentum distribution in copper is studied through the angular correlation of positron annihilation radiation, by employing self-consistent linear combination of Gaussian orbitals band structure method. The two-photon momentum density is presented and analysed through three dimensional plots and angular momentum decomposed contributions. Calculation of two-dimensional angular correlation has been carried out in the independent particle approximation. The results for the analysis using Lock, Crisp and West theorem and the reciprocal form factors are also presented. The present theoretical results are compared with the experimental ones wherever possible, and the agreement in general, is good.     

Positron annihilation in germanium

High precision long-slit and cross-slit geometry angular distributions of annihilation radiation from oriented germanium are presented. The momentum distributions from the long-slit measurements are compared with recent Compton profile data to test the importance of the positron wavefunction and positron-electron correlations. Evidence for Umklapp annihilation is discussed. No observable differences are found between distributions from heavily doped and intrinsic germanium samples. Differences in the angular distributions between 5 K and 300 K are attributed to positron thermal motion, and the results are analyzed by a new method to obtain an estimate of the positron effective mass. Paper A21 presented at 3rd Internat'l Conf. Positron Annihilation, Otaniemi, Finland (August 1973). Work supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research Office, Durham, North Carolina USA.     

Positron annihilation study of the annealing behaviour of alpha induced defects in tungsten

Abstract

Positron lifetime and Doppler broadening measurements have been performed on alpha-irradiated tungsten to study the evolution of defects during isochronal annealing from 100°C to 1050°C. Vacancy-impurity complexes dissociate at the earlier stages and release the vacancies. Monovacancies start migrating at 400°C. The vacancy clusters coarsen to form microvoids in the region from 350°C to 650°C and remain stable upto 750°C. Some of the clusters collapse into vacancy loops. Dislocation/vacancy loops and microvoids start annealing around 750°C. The role of impurities and grain boundaries on the annealing behaviour of the defects is also discussed.     

硅晶体中点缺陷结合过程的分子动力学研究

采用分子动力学方法模拟研究了硅晶体中的空位和间隙原子的结合过程. 研究中采用了Stilliger-Weber三体经验势描述原子间的相互作用, 系统分别在低温300K和高温1400K进行弛豫. 计算中发现空位和间隙原子倾向于通过<111>方向结合，而<110>方向上存在着势垒. 通过势垒值的计算, 对Tang和Zawadzki势垒计算值的差异进行了解释. 关键词： 分子动力学 空位与间隙原子 扩散     

Positron annihilation studies of heavy-ion induced radiation damages in stainless steels

Variable-energy (0–30 keV) positrons were used to study the depth distribution of heavy-ion induced vacancy type defects in the following specimens, SUS304 and SUS316 austenitic stainless steels, a SUS444 ferritic stainless steel and nickel metal, which were irradiated by 0.5 MeV He⁺, 2.0 MeV C⁺, 3.5 MeV Si²⁺ and 4.0 MeV Ni²⁺ ions up to 0.01 dpa at peak. Vacancy type effective residual defects (ERD) were evaluated from the line shape parameterS of Doppler broadened positron annihilation photon spectra. With increasing primary knockon atom (PKA) energy, a decrease of the vacancy type ERD was observed. The ERD differences among the specimens are discussed in comparison with theoretical predictions.     

Positron annihilation studies in the mixed crystals of KCl:KBr

Positron annihilation line shape studies have been made in five mixed crystals of KCl:KBr with varying concentrations. The annihilation line shape parameter S shows a minimum for the 50 mole% KCl/50 mole% KBr specimen indicating an orderly behaviour of the system. At other concentrations, the mixed crystals appear to have defects.