Dopant activation process in Mg-implanted GaN studied by monoenergetic positron beam

A process for activating Mg and its relationship with vacancy-type defects in Mg-implanted GaN were studied by positron annihilation spectroscopy. Mg+ ions were implanted with an energy of 10 keV, and the Mg concentration in the subsurface region (≤ 50 nm) was on the order of 1019 cm−3. After the Mg-implantation, N+ ions were implanted to provide a 300-nm-deep box profile with a N concentration of 6 × 1018 cm−3. From capacitance–voltage measurements, the sequential implantation of N was found to enhance the activation of Mg. For N-implanted GaN before annealing, the major defect species were determined to Ga-vacancy related defects such as divacancy. After annealing below 1000 °C, the clustering of vacancies was observed. Above 1200 °C annealing, however, the size of the vacancies started to decrease, which was due to recombinations of vacancy clusters and excess N atoms in the damaged region. The suppression of vacancy clustering by sequential N-implantation in Mg-implanted GaN was attributed to the origin of the enhancement of the Mg activation.

Effects of ultra-high-pressure annealing on characteristics of vacancies in Mg-implanted GaN studied using a monoenergetic positron beam

Vacancy-type defects in Mg-implanted GaN were probed by using a monoenergetic positron beam. Mg ions were implanted into GaN to obtain 0.3-μm-deep box profiles with Mg concentrations of 1 × 1019 cm−3. The major defect species in an as-implanted sample was determined to be Ga-vacancy related defects such as a complex between Ga and N vacancies. The sample was annealed under a nitrogen pressure of 1 GPa in a temperature range of 1000–1480 °C without a protective capping layer. Compared with the results for Mg-implanted GaN annealed with an AlN capping layer, the defect concentration was decreased by the cap-less annealing, suggesting that the surface of the sample was an effective sink for vacancies migrating toward the surface. Depth distributions of Mg after annealing above 1300 °C were influenced by the presence of residual vacancies at this temperature. Hydrogen atoms were unintentionally incorporated into the sample during annealing, and their diffusion properties were also affected by both vacancies and Mg.

The Relevance of Point Defects in Studying Silica-Based Materials from Bulk to Nanosystems

The macroscopic properties of silica can be modified by the presence of local microscopic modifications at the scale of the basic molecular units (point defects). Such defects can be generated during the production of glass, devices, or by the environments where the latter have to operate, impacting on the devices’ performance. For these reasons, the identification of defects, their generation processes, and the knowledge of their electrical and optical features are relevant for microelectronics and optoelectronics. The aim of this manuscript is to report some examples of how defects can be generated, how they can impact device performance, and how a defect species or a physical phenomenon that is a disadvantage in some fields can be used as an advantage in others.

Variation of the band structure in DKDP crystal excited by intense sub-picosecond laser pulses

The nonlinear absorption (NLA) properties of potassium dideuterium phosphate crystals at 515 nm under different excitation laser intensities are investigated with the Z-scan technique. Two critical intensities are highlighted: the critical intensity for exciting the NLA and the critical intensity of the multiphoton absorption mechanism transition. Experimental results indicate the existence of defect states located in the band gap, which can be manipulated by varying laser intensity. A model based on the change of multiphoton absorption mechanism induced by the transformation of defect species is proposed to interpret the experiments. Modeling results are in good agreement with the experiment data.

Positron Annihilation Spectroscopic Studies of Cu2Te Thermoelectric Material

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) and coincident Doppler-broadening spectroscopy (CDBS) have been used for investigating the evolution of vacancy-type defects in the thermoelectric material Cu2Te which annealed at different temperatures. The results of PALS show that a fraction of positrons has got annihilated at the surfaces and the sample which annealed at 450 °C has the highest concentration of surface defects. The average positron lifetime and the S parameter have the same trends which gradually increase with the increase of the annealing temperature. This change implies that the total concentration of the defects has been changed with the change of the annealed temperatures. The results of the CDBS ratio spectrum and S-W plot indicate that the defect species have no change after annealing at different temperatures.

Vacancy-Type Defects in GaN for Power Devices Probed by Positron Annihilation

Native defects and ion-implantation induced defects in GaN were studied by means of positron annihilation. Measurements of Doppler broadening spectra of the annihilation radiation for GaN layers grown on Si substrates showed that optically active vacancy-type defects were formed in the layers. Charge transition of the defects due to electron capture occurred when the layers were irradiated by photons with energy above 2.7 eV. It was found that Ti deposition and subsequent annealing introduced vacancy clusters. We also characterized vacancy-type defects in Mg-implanted GaN. The major defect species of vacancies introduced by Mg-implantation was a complex between Ga-vacancy (VGa) and nitrogen vacancies (VNs). After annealing above 1000C, these defects started to agglomerate, and the major defect species became (VGa)2 coupled with VNs. Through this work, we have demonstrated that positron annihilation spectroscopy is a powerful tool for characterizing vacancy-type defects in GaN for power devices applications.

Theoretical Evaluation of Anisotropic Distortion Associated with Point Defects in Ordered Compounds

To verify the assumption that the anelastic relaxation effect observed in Ni3Al is due to stress-induced reorientation of antisite Al atoms [Numakura and Nishi, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 442 (2006) 59-62], the magnitudes of the anisotropic distortion produced by the intrinsic point defects have been evaluated by ab initio calculations. The anisotropy of the λ tensor (the strain per unit concentration of a particular defect) for the two candidate defect species, namely a Ni vacancy and an antisite Al atom, has been computed by full structure optimization of a supercell containing a single point defect: the difference in the principal values is +0.46 and −1.12, respectively. The relaxation strength estimated for antisite Al atoms agrees fairly well with experiment, while that for Ni vacancies is far too small because of their much lower concentration. The relaxation is, therefore, conclusively attributed to antisite Al atoms.