Ability of reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED) to observe structural modifications in ion-implanted and annealed GaAs

Abstract

GaAs 〈100〉 wafers were implanted and later annealed by using three different techniques: furnace thermal annealing (FTA), flash lamp (RTA) and low-power laser annealing (LPLA). The resulting modifications of the structure were studied by RHEED. The RHEED pattern analysis indicates that: (a) A well annealed structure is observed after thermal treatment in furnace at 850 °C for 30 min; (b) the particular RTA employed leads to some texturing, but is not sufficient to provide good structural effects; (c) best annealing under our conditions is obtained by the LPLA technique, especially for low ion doses (less than 1013 cm−2); (d) variable-glancing-angle RHEED is an effective and convenient method to investigate the ion induced disorder in crystals at small depths.