Ion implantation damage and annealing in GaSb

Abstract

The production and annealing of damage in GaSb implanted at room temperature with 150 keV Ar +-ions over a wide dose range are investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in combination with the channeling technique and by transmission electron microscopy. Above a critical dose close to 4 × 10 13 cm −2, the introduction of radiation damage induces a swelling of the implanted region. This phenomenon is observed to be related to the formation of a layer containing voids and microtwins, and, at higher doses, porous polycrystalline GaSb. For doses below the swelling threshold, the rapid thermal annealing process produces a good recovery of defects. Otherwise, for doses higher than the critical dose, the annealing process is less efficient. When the swelling is low, there is regrowth of the porous layer after annealing at 600°C but large voids remain, and, when the swelling is high, the regrowth procedure is unsuccessful.