Optical activation of praseodymium ions implanted in gallium nitride after ultra-high pressure annealing

Abstract

Lanthanide (Ln)-implanted gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors have a variety of potential applications as light-emitting devices and quantum light sources, but their optical properties are not well understood. In this study, we investigate the room temperature optical properties of praseodymium (Pr) ion implanted single-crystal GaN and their changes upon ultrahigh pressure annealing (UHPA) up to 1480 °C. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra, luminescence transition lifetime, and excitation cross section of the implanted Pr ions are analyzed. In addition, the recovery of implantation-induced damage and the thermal diffusion of implanted Pr ions by UHPA are investigated by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and secondary ion mass spectrometry. The results show that the implantation damage is recovered by annealing at temperatures above 1200 °C, but Pr ions thermally diffuse to the surface as the annealing temperature increases. The annealing temperature at which a maximum PL intensity is obtained increases with increasing the implantation dose. However, the PL intensity decreases in all cases after annealing at 1480 °C, indicating that a quenching factor is dominant in this temperature range.