Observation of Large Surface Area Exfoliation in Hydrogen Implanted Ge

Abstract

Large surface area exfoliation of the hydrogen (H)‐implanted Ge is investigated in this work. H+ ions with a fluence of 1 × 1017 cm−2 are implanted in Ge samples at liquid nitrogen and room temperature (RT). The formation of surface blisters and craters is observed in the samples annealed between 300 and 450 °C after implantation. Interestingly, samples implanted at RT show large surface area exfoliation extending over several hundreds of micrometer region after annealing. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) and depth‐resolved Raman spectroscopy are used to characterize the depth profile of implanted H+ ions and stress in the damage region, respectively. The formation of the damage band filled with extended planar defects in the form of nanocracks is observed using a cross‐sectional transmission electron microscope (TEM). The physical understanding of the H‐induced internal pressure and stress in the surface blisters/craters is carried out using Föppl–von Karman theory of thin plates.