Sputtering during ion implantation into gallium arsenide

The surface erosion caused by ion bombardment of solids and its effect on the number of ions retained in the solid was studied experimentally for a variety of ions implanted into GaAs with various fluences and energies. Experimental methods were interferometry and semi quantitative X-ray analysis by means of an electron microprobe. By an easy-to-use computer calculation the change in the implantation profiles was determined and the number of retained ions were related to the surface shift caused by sputtering. Comparison of this shift with the real erosion found before and after annealing was made. From the results, we conclude that the collapse of the crystal lattice contributes to the sinking of the bombarded surface. Sputtering data necessary to estimate the technical consequences of sputtering, range data of 100 keV Fe ions, and data indicating the sensitivity of X-ray analysis are presented.