M.T. Myers

P-type ZnO thin films achieved by N+ ion implantation through dynamic annealing process

ZnO thin films were grown on sapphire (0001) substrates by pulsed-laser deposition at 700 °C. 70 keV N+ ion implantation was performed under various temperatures and fluences in the range of 300−460 °C and 3.0×1014−1.2×1015 cm−2, respectively. Hall measurements indicate that the ZnO films implanted at 460 °C are p-type for all fluences used herein. Hole-carrier concentrations lie in the range of 2.4×1016−5.2×1017 cm−3, hole mobilities in the range of 0.7−3.7 cm2 V−1 s−1, and resistivities between 18−71 Ωcm. Transmission-electron microscopy reveals major microstructural differences between the n-type and p-type films. Ion implantation at elevated temperatures is shown to be an effective method to introduce increased concentrations of p-type N dopants while reducing the amount of stable post-implantation disorder.

Radiation defect dynamics in Si at room temperature studied by pulsed ion beams

The evolution of radiation defects after the thermalization of collision cascades often plays the dominant role in the formation of stable radiation disorder in crystalline solids of interest to electronics and nuclear materials applications. Here, we explore a pulsed-ion-beam method to study defect interaction dynamics in Si crystals bombarded at room temperature with 500 keV Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe ions. The effective time constant of defect interaction is measured directly by studying the dependence of lattice disorder, monitored by ion channeling, on the passive part of the beam duty cycle. The effective defect diffusion length is revealed by the dependence of damage on the active part of the beam duty cycle. Results show that the defect relaxation behavior obeys a second order kinetic process for all the cases studied, with a time constant in the range of ∼4–13 ms and a diffusion length of ∼15–50 nm. Both radiation dynamics parameters (the time constant and diffusion length) are essentially independent of...

Pulsed ion beam measurement of defect diffusion lengths in irradiated solids.

Radiation-generated point defects in solids often experience dynamic annealing-diffusion and interaction processes after the thermalization of collision cascades. The length scale of dynamic annealing can be described in terms of the characteristic defect diffusion length (Ld). Here, we propose to measure Ld by a pulsed beam method. Our approach is based on the observation of enhanced defect production when, for individual ion pulses, the average separation between adjacent damage regions is smaller than Ld. We obtain a value for Ld of ~30 nm for float-zone Si crystals bombarded at room temperature with 500 keV Ar ions.

Enhanced radiation tolerance of non-polar-terminated ZnO

Room-temperature heavy-ion bombardment of polar (0001) ZnO leads to the formation of intermediate peak and step features in damage–depth profiles measured by ion channeling. Here, we show that these anomalous disorder effects are strongly suppressed for crystals with (112¯0) and (101¯0) non-polar surface terminations. Possible defect interaction scenarios responsible for the enhanced radiation tolerance of non-polar-terminated ZnO are discussed.

Electrical and microstructural properties of N+ ion-implanted ZnO and ZnO:Ag thin films

ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO films were grown on sapphire (0001) substrates by pulsed-laser deposition in vacuum both with and without oxygen at 700 °C. N+ ions were implanted in these films at room temperature and at 300 °C to a dose of 1×1014 cm−2 at 50 keV. Hall measurements indicate that ZnO films deposited in vacuum without oxygen and implanted with N+ at elevated temperatures are p-type with a hole-carrier concentration of 6×1016 cm−3, a mobility of 2.1 cm2 V−1 s−1, and a resistivity of 50 Ω cm. Both scanning-electron microscopy and transmission-electron microscopy studies on the implanted films reveal microstructural differences in grain size, surface roughness, and the nature of defects, which may impact the activation of N atoms as p-type carriers. Low-energy ion implantation at elevated temperatures is shown to be an effective method to introduce p-type N dopants into ZnO, which minimizes defect clustering and promotes defect annihilation during implantation.