Influence of crystal mosaicity on axial channeling effects and lattice site determination of impurities

Abstract

Using the electron emission channeling and Rutherford backscattering/channeling techniques, the influence of the mosaicity of a thin film on the axial channeling of charged particles was investigated. It is found that crystal mosaicity leads to a broadening and a degradation of the experimental channeling effects. This phenomenon, which is shown to be of major importance when assessing the lattice site of impurities in a single crystal, can be modeled quantitatively by using the mosaic tilt and twist components derived from X-ray rocking curve scans. As a case study, we illustrate that our approach allows to accurately determine the lattice site of Er in AlN, despite the significant influence of mosaicity on the channeling measurements.