Strain/Damage in Crystalline Materials Bombarded by MeV Ions: Recrystallization of GaAs by High-Dose Irradiation

Abstract

MeV ion irradiation effects on semiconductor crystals, GaAs(100) and Si (111) and on an insulating crystal CaF_2(111) have been studied by the x-ray rocking curve technique using a double crystal x-ray diffractometer. The results on GaAs are particularly interesting. The strain developed by ion irradiation in the surface layers of GaAs (100) saturates to a certain level after a high dose irradiation (typically 10^(15)/cm^2), resulting in a uniform lattice spacing about 0.4% larger than the original spacing of the lattice planes parallel to the surface. The layer of uniform strain corresponds in depth to the region where electronic energy loss is dominant over nuclear collision energy loss. The saturated strain level is the same for both p-type and n-type GaAs. In the early stages of irradiation, the strain induced in the surface is shown to be proportional to the nuclear stopping power at the surface and is independent of electronic stopping power. The strain saturation phenomenon in GaAs is discussed in terms of point defect saturation in the surface layer. An isochronal (15 min.) annealing was done on the Cr-doped GaAs at temperatures between 200° C and 700° C. The intensity in the diffraction peak from the surface strained layer jumps at 200° C < T ≤ 300° C. The strain decreases gradually with temperature, approaching zero at T ≤ 500° C. The strain saturation phenomenon does not occur in the irradiated Si. The strain induced in Si is generally very low (less than 0.06%) and is interpreted to be mostly in the layers adjacent to the maximum nuclear stopping region, with zero strain in the surface layer. The data on CaF_2 have been analysed with a kinematical x-ray diffraction theory to get quantitative strain and damage depth profiles for several different doses.

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