Radiation damage by implanted ions in GaAs and GaP

Abstract

The production of lattice disorder in GaAs and GaP by Te ions up to 40 keV has been investigated. For GaAs the build up of damage with implanted ion dose is linear until a saturation level is reached. For Gap, two linear regions are evident; a slow build up of damage to ?15 per cent of the saturation level, followed by a faster rate of increase up to the final 100 per cent level. Radiation annealing, for GaP samples, both by the heavy ion beam during implantation and by the helium beam during back-scattering measurements has been observed. The annealing temperatures required for re-ordering the lattice depend on the percentage of damage present. Samples damaged up to the saturation level require annealing at ?500°C, whilst 300°C is sufficient for samples damaged to ?50 per cent of the saturation value.     

Nitrogen centers in GaP produced by hot implantation

Backscattering yields of 1.5 MeV?He⁺ ions and low temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectra were measured in GaP crystals implanted with 200 keV?N⁺ ions as functions of ion-dose, temperature during implantation and annealing temperature after implantation. Backscattering results indicate that hot implantation at 500°C greatly reduces radiation damage. The PL intensities of NN lines become maximum in the sample implanted with N⁺ ions of 3 × 10¹⁴cm^?2 at 500°C, and annealed at 1000°C for 1 hr with aluminum glass. The PL intensity is comparable to that of the nitrogen-doped sample during liquid phase epitaxy which is widely accepted as the best method of introducing nitrogen into GaP crystals. In the case of 500°C—hot implantation, the radiation damage produced during implantation is annealed out at 700 ~ 800°C and the implanted nitrogen substitutes for the phosphorous sites after annealing at 900 ~ 1000°C. Some kinds of defects or strains remain around the NN centers even in implanted samples with a maximum PL efficiency. These defects or strains don't seem to reduce the PL efficiency. In the case of room temperature implantation, PL efficiency decreases to one-hundredth or one-thousandth due to the formation of the non-crystalline state compared with hot implantation.     

Mössbauer study of 57Fe in GaAs and GaP following 57Mn+ implantation

Ion implantation provides a precise method of incorporating dopant atoms in semiconductors, provided lattice damage due to the implantation process can be annealed and the dopant atoms located on regular lattice sites. We have undertaken ⁵⁷Fe emission Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements on GaAs and GaP single crystals following implantation of radioactive ⁵⁷Mn^?+? ions, to study the lattice sites of the implanted ions, the annealing of implantation induced damage and impurity–vacancy complexes formed. The Mössbauer spectra were analyzed with four spectral components: an asymmetric doublet (D1) attributed to Fe atoms in distorted environments due to implantation damage, two single lines, S1 assigned to Fe on substitutional Ga sites, and S2 to Fe on interstitial sites, and a low intensity symmetric doublet (D2) assigned to impurity–vacancy complexes. The variations in the extracted hyperfine parameters of D1 for both materials at high temperatures (T?> 400 K) suggests changes in the immediate environment of the Fe impurity atoms and different bonding mechanism to the Mössbauer probe atom. The results show that the annealing of the radiation induced damage is more prominent in GaAs compared to GaP.     

Crystalline to amorphous transformations in ion implanted GaP

Abstract

The amorphization process of GaP by ion implantation is studied. The samples of 〈111〉 oriented GaP were implanted at 130 K with various doses 5 × 10¹³-2 × 10¹⁶ cm^?2 of 150 keV N⁺ ions and with the doses of 6 × 10¹²-1.5 × 10¹⁵ cm^?2 of 150 keV Cd⁺ ions. Room temperature implantations were also performed to see the influence of temperature on defect production. Rutherford backscattering and channelling techniques were used to determine damage in crystals. The damage distributions calculated from the RBS spectra have been compared with the results of Monte-Carlo simulation of the defect creation.

The estimated threshold damage density appeared to be independent on ion mass and is equal 6.5 × 10²⁰ keV/cm³. It is suggested that amorphization of GaP is well explained on the basis of a homogenous model.     

Properties of ion implanted silicon,sulfur, and carbon in gallium arsenide

Work is described in which chromium-doped semi-insulating gallium arsenide has been successfully doped n-type with ion implanted silicon and sulfur, and p-type with ion implanted carbon. A dilute chemical etch has been employed in conjunction with differential Hall effect measurements to obtain accurate profiles of carrier concentration and mobility vs. depth in conductive implanted layers. This method has so far been applied to silicon-and sulfur-implanted layers in both Cr-doped semi-insulating GaAs and high purity vapor grown GaAs. In the case of sulfur implants, a strong diffusion enhancement has been observed during the annealing, presumably due to fast-diffusing, implantation-produced damage. Peak doping levels so far obtained are about 8 × 10¹⁷ electrons/cm³ for silicon implants and 2 × 10¹⁷ electrons/cm³ for sulfur implants. Mobility recovery has been observed to be complete except in regions near the surface which are heavily damaged by the implantation.     

Investigation of weak damage in Al0.25Ga0.75As/GaAs by using RBS/C and Raman spectroscopy

The weak damage induced by 0.8 MeV Si ion implantation in the Al_0.25Ga_0.75As films epitaxially grown on GaAs substrates was studied by using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry/channeling (RBS/C) and Raman spectroscopy. RBS/C spectra measured from the implanted samples showed rather low damage level induced by the ion implantation with ion dose from 1×10¹⁴ to 5×10¹⁵ cm⁻². The Raman spectra were measured on these samples. Two kinds of phonon modes, GaAs-like and AlAs-like, are observed, which indicate the existence of multiple phonon vibrational modes in the epitaxial Al_0.25Ga_0.75As films on the GaAs substrate. Compared with the unimplanted sample, the Raman photon peaks for the implanted sample shift gradually to lower energy with the increase of the implantation dose. The strains induced in the implanted layer were also evaluated from the Raman spectra. The result from high resolution double crystal X-ray diffractometry (HRXRD) also verified the evolution of the strains in the implanted layers.     

Lattice reordering in Pb implanted Ge crystals

Channeling effect and sheet resistivity techniques have been used to investigate the damage induced by 40 keV Pb implantation in Ge crystals. At 450° the reordering of the Ge lattice occurs simultaneously to the out-diffusion of the implanted Pb atoms while the recovery of the sheet resistivity occurs at higher temperatures. 90% of the implanted atoms still retained in the crystal are located in substitutional sites. Work supported in part by Centro Siciliano di Fisica Nucleare e di Structura della Materia and by Gruppo Nazionale di Struttura della Materia del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche.     

Surface state study of ion implanted GaAs (Se) from photoreflectance

The surfaces of single crystal (100) GaAs specimens ion implanted with Se (fluence to 5 × 10¹⁴ cm^?2) were studied by photoreflectance (PR). It is found that the PR concentration correlation for the ion-implanted crystals follow the Franz-Keldysh relationship. This establishes the electronic structural mechanistic basis of the PR surface phenomenon. The technique also offers a convenient, non-destructive means of studying dopant concentration levels at surfaces of crystalline ion implanted semiconductors.     

Structural defect recovery in GaP after heavy ion implantation

The channeling and blocking effect of electrons and positrons emitted in nuclear decay allows the lattice site location of radioactive impurities implanted into single crystals at small concentrations (ppm) and low implantation fluences (10¹²/cm²). We applied this emission channeling technique to the localization of ^112mIn and ^111mCd after implantation into si-GaP single crystals at different temperatures. After implantation at low temperature and subsequent annealing an increase of the fraction of substitutional probe atoms and a recovery of the local lattice structure between 300 and 500 K were observed. GaP tends to anneal at higher temperatures than GaAs (200–350 K), but compared to GaAs the channeling effects observed in GaP are more pronounced, indicating a more complete recovery of implantation defects.     

Investigation of stress and structural damage in H and He implanted Ge using micro‐Raman mapping technique on bevelled samples

The results on structural damage in germanium wafers caused by hydrogen and helium implants of typical doses used in Smart Cut™ Technology (1–6 × 10¹⁶ atoms/cm²) are investigated using Raman mapping and spreading resistance profiling techniques. Raman line‐mapping measurements were performed up to the depth of ~400 nm into a Ge substrate (well beyond the limit of visible light penetration depth) using a bevelling technique. From analysis of the Ge–Ge Raman peak it was found that implantation of H and He introduced a different type of stress, tensile and compressive, respectively and significant structural damage with maximum at the projected range. The obtained data shows that hydrogen incorporation in Ge can act as an acceptor. This is undesirable when the hydrogen ion‐cut technology is applied to high resistivity Ge. The crystalline structure after implantation is completely recovered when annealed at 600 °C for both types of implants. Spreading resistance profiling results reveal that 4−8x10¹⁵ acceptors/cm³ remain after 600 °C, and these are thought to be because of vacancy related defect clusters. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Laser technology for submicron-doped layers formation in semiconductors

A p–n junctions formed by means of laser stimulated diffusion of dopants into semiconductors (Si, GaAs, GaP, InP) were investigated. SIMS and AES spectroscopy methods were used to measure the depth profiles of the incorporated impurities: B into Si, Zn into GaAs, GaP and InP. The volt-capacity method using an electrochemical profilometer was used for the charge carrier concentration distribution in the doped layer. Spectroscopy investigations have shown that during solid phase diffusion locally doped regions almost exactly reproduce the shape and size of the windows in the dielectrics. The lateral diffusion of the dopant is about 0.01μm. The concentration profiles of charge carrier distribution in the doped layers clearly show the specific processes of dopant diffusion and evaporation at laser solid-phase doping of semiconductors. The comparative analysis of parameters of formed semiconductor structures shows that the procedure of laser solid-phase doping can stand the comparison with technology of implantation and conventional diffusion technology. Since the laser solid-phase doping ensures also a high degree of reproducibility of p–n junction parameters, it can be effectively used for electronic devices fabrication.     

Micro‐Raman depth profiling of silicon amorphization induced by high‐energy ion channeling implantation

In this work, we study the silicon amorphization dependence on the crystal depth induced by 6‐MeV Al²⁺ ions implanted in the <110> and randomly oriented silicon crystal channels, which was not directly experimentally accessible in the previous similar high‐energy ion–crystal implantation cases. Accordingly, the micro‐Raman spectroscopy scanning measurements along the crystal transversal cross section of the ion implanted region were performed. The ion fluence was 10¹⁷ particles/cm². The scanning steps were 0.2 and 0.3 µm, for the channeling and random ion implantations, respectively. The obtained results are compared with the corresponding Rutherford backscattering spectra of 1.2‐MeV protons in the random and channeling orientations measured during the channeling implantation. Additionally, scanning electron microscope picture was taken on the transversal cross section of the implanted region in the channeling implantation case. We show here that the obtained silicon amorphization maxima are in excellent agreement with the corresponding estimated maxima of the aluminum concentration in silicon. This clearly indicates that the used specific micro‐Raman spectroscopy scanning technique can be successfully applied for the depth profiling of the crystal amorphization induced by high‐energy ion implantation. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impurity effect on the creation of point-defects in GaAs and InP investigated by a slow positron beam

The impurity effect on the creation of point-defects in 60-keV Be⁺-ion implanted GaAs and InP has been studied by a slow positron beam. Vacancy-type defects introduced by ion implantation were observed in n-type GaAs. For p-type GaAs, however, this was not the case. This can be attributed to the recombination of vacancy-type defects with pre-existing interstitial defects in p-type GaAs. In the case of InP, the vacancy-type defects were created by ion implantation and increased with the implantation dose. However, no significant doping effect was observed in InP.     

Lattice location and thermal annealing behaviour studies of GaAs single crystals implanted with Co-atoms

Co-atoms have been implanted into n-type GaAs single crystals up to a dose of 2×10¹⁵ atoms/cm². Mössbauer Spectroscopy was used together with Proton Induced X-ray Excitation and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry in Channeling geometry to study the recovery of the GaAs-crystal from the implantation damage and the final lattice locations of the Co-atoms. Epitaxial regrowth of the GaAs was found to take place in the annealing temperature region from 300°–450°C. At 900°C rapid thermal annealing an epitaxial Co-phase was found at the surface with the Co-atoms partially blocking the GaAs <110> channel.     

Strained germanium films in Ge/InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures: Formation of edge misfit dislocations at the Ge/InGaAs interface

Heterostructures of the “strained Ge film/artificial InGaAs layer/GaAs substrate” type have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy. A specific feature of these structures is that the plastically relaxed (buffer) InGaAs layer has the density of threading dislocations on a level of 10⁵–10⁶ cm⁻². These dislocations penetrate into the strained Ge layer to become sources of both 60° and 90° (edge) misfit dislocations (MDs). Using the transmission electron microscopy, both MD types have been found at the Ge/InGaAs interface. It has been shown that the presence of threading dislocations inherited from the buffer layer in a tensile-strained Ge film favors the formation of edge dislocations at the Ge/InGaAs interface even in the case of small elastic deformations in the strained film. Possible mechanisms of the formation of edge MDs have been considered, including (i) accidental collision of complementary parallel 60° MDs propagating in the mirror-tilted {111} planes, (ii) induced nucleation of a second 60° MD and its interaction with the primary 60° MD, and (iii) interaction of two complementary MDs after a cross-slip of one of them. Calculations have demonstrated that a critical layer thickness (h _c ) for the appearance of edge MDs is considerably smaller than h _c for 60° MDs.     

H^＋注入锗酸铋晶体表面层的性质

Ｈ＾＋注入锗酸铋（Ｂｉ４Ｇｅ３Ｏ１２或ＢＧＯ）晶体引起某些效应，如辐射损伤，光学吸收和近表层区域的晶体分解。经Ｈ＾＋注入后，ＢＧＯ晶体的颜色变成棕色，但实验中证实不了该变化是由色心的产生所引起。此外，实验中也示观察到Ｈ＾＋注入ＢＧＯ晶体中有离子束诱发的光学活性变化。可见在注入过程中，未发生从Ｂｉ４Ｇｅ３Ｏ１２转变到Ｂｉ１２ＧｅＯ２０的结构相变，由此预见，注入过程中可能发生离子束引起的晶体分解。Ｈ＾     

Characteristics of Germanium n+/p junctions formed by phosphorus diffusion from on indium-gallium-phosphide layer

Although numerous studies have been previously reported for the formation of Ge p–n junctions, there is still a lack of research on Ge junctions formed by solid-phase diffusion doping, which typically uses the diffusion phenomenon of phosphorus (P) atoms from InGaP for the fabrication of a Ge n⁺/p subcell in a III–V multi-junction cell. Here, we investigate the characteristics of Ge n⁺/p junctions achieved by the InGaP-based diffusion technique at 450–650 °C with SIMS, ECV, and J–V analyses. In addition, through a multiple error function fitting method, diffusivity, peak position, and activation energy values are accurately estimated from raw In/Ga/P/Ge SIMS profiles. The extracted activation energy values for In/Ga/P atoms are much lower than previously reported, indicating that a faster diffusion phenomenon occurs during the simultaneous diffusion of In/Ga/P into Ge. A non-annealed InGaP-deposited junction shows Ohmic behavior with a high current density because of leakage currents by many interfacial point defects. After a 550 °C anneal, the current density is reduced by 3–4 orders of magnitude and a small on/off-current ratio is obtained. Compared to this 550 °C annealed junction, a current density increases ∼10 times in the 650 °C sample due to an increased n-type carrier concentration.     

Ion implantation of zinc sulphide

The passivation of argon sputter-etch induced electrically active defects on Ge, Si, and GaAs surfaces by reaction with atomic hydrogen has been observed using deep level transient spectroscopy. A broad band of defect states, giving rise to non-linear Arrhenius plots, appears to be associated with the induced damage centres. For n-type Ge and p-type Si, a 20-min exposure to atomic hydrogen at 180°C is shown to neutralize the damage created by a 5-min, 6 kV (DC), Ar gas sputter-etch. For n-type GaAs a 1-h exposure at 250°C was sufficient, whilst n-type Si required a 1-h exposure to the hydrogen plasma at 300°C to passivate the damage. In each case, to remove the sputter-etch damage by thermal annealing required temperatures approximately 100°C higher, for periods of approximately 2 h.     

Generation of terahertz radiation in cubic non-centrosymmetric crystals

The conditions of parametric radiation generation on polaritons in cubic noncentrosymmetric crystals are studied. The possibility of such generation is theoretically justified. The polariton radiation frequencies are calculated for GaP, ZnSe, ZnTe, and GaAs crystals. The obtained generation frequencies are compared to the experimental results on Raman scattering on polaritons. The block diagram of the terahertz radiation generator operation using a GaP crystal and a pulsed laser with high peak power at low energy of laser pump pulses is presented. The lasing frequency shift is analyzed depending on the scattering geometry. The coefficient of exciting radiation conversion to the terahertz range is determined.     

Highly efficient terahertz electro-optic sampling by material optimization at 1060 nm

Different electro-optic crystals (CdTe, DAST, GaAs, GaP, and ZnTe) are investigated with respect to their ability as detection crystals for terahertz pulse electro-optic sampling at a wavelength of 1060 nm. Calculations of the detection response are in good qualitative agreement with experimental results. While CdTe shows the strongest signal for applications below 1 THz, GaP exhibits a broadband spectrum. By the choice of an adequate crystal a comparable detection efficiency to electro-optic sampling at a wavelength of 800 nm can be achieved.