Annealing of ion-implanted GaN

Abstract

111mCd and 112Cd ions have been implanted into GaN. With photoluminescence spectroscopy and perturbed γγ angular correlation spectroscopy (PAC) the reduction of implantation damage and the optical activation of the implants have been observed as a function of annealing temperature using different annealing methods. The use of N2 or NH3 atmosphere during annealing allows temperatures up to 1323 and 1373K, respectively, but above 1200K a strong loss of Cd from the GaN has been observed. Annealing GaN together with elementary Al forms a protective layer on the GaN surface allowing annealing temperatures up to 1570K for 10min.