PAC investigations of radiation damage annealing in 111In implanted ZnO

Abstract

The structural and electronic environment about implanted radioactive 111In(→ 111Cd) probe atoms as a function of annealing temperature in a single crystal of ZnO(0 0 0 1) has been monitored on an atomic scale using perturbed angular correlation technique, a nuclear hyperfine method. This technique is based upon the hyperfine interaction of the nuclear electric quadrupole moment or magnetic moment of the probes, respectively, with the electric field gradient or magnetic hyperfine field arising from the extra-nuclear electronic charges and spin distributions. The probe atoms 111In were recoil-implanted at room temperature following heavy-ion nuclear reactions. The electric quadrupole interaction was measured at room temperature for as-implanted and annealed samples. The thermal annealing in ambient nitrogen up to 1000 °C showed a progressive reduction of disorder around the probe atom as evidenced via continual decrease in width of the distribution of quadrupole interaction frequencies. Present measurements suggested that annealing at 800 °C for 30 min in flowing nitrogen is enough to produce an optimum recovery of crystallinity. After annealing of radiation damage at 1000 °C we observed an axially symmetric electric field gradient which is characterized by the unique quadrupole interaction frequency of 30.6(3) MHz and a frequency distribution of width nearly zero. The observed electric field gradient was attributed to substitutional incorporation of probe atoms at cation-sites of ZnO. In contrast to annealing in ambient nitrogen at 1000 °C, air annealing of 111In implanted ZnO samples revealed change in local stoichiometry about probe atoms which is attributed to the internal oxidation of the indium probes. The measured electric field gradient and asymmetry parameter at cation-sites of ZnO have been compared with theoretical calculations using a simple point charge model.