Ion irradiation-induced nano pore/fiber formation and areal-vacancy distribution in semiconductor materials

Abstract

In this study, the formation of nano-porous/fibrous structures was investigated by spot-ion irradiation on Ge and GaSb substrates to consider the formation range of nanostructures and point defects. Spot-ion irradiation was performed in a focused ion beam system with a beam diameter of 35.1 nm, which is determined by the system. The fluence and ion beam current ranged within 5 × 1019–1 × 1022 ions/m2 and 500–520 pA, respectively. All the irradiated ions were Ga+ with incident energy adjusted at 30 keV, and the angle of incidence to the surface normal was 0°. The interval of the irradiated spot ranged from 100 to 1000 nm. For line-patterned irradiations, these spots overlapped with one another at an overlap ratio of 50%, producing a 35.1 nm × 10 μm irradiated region. Result shows that nanostructured regions followed a spot interval. When an interval was shorter than 200 nm, each nanostructured spot coalesced with neighbors to form large and uniform structures. Furthermore, line-patterned irradiation indicated that the migration distance of vacancy was ∼300 nm at maximum, which is consistent with the coalescence phenomenon.