X-RAY AND CHANNELING ANALYSIS OF ION-IMPLANTED GALLIUM-ARSENIDE

Double crystal X-ray diffractometry and channeling spectrometry were applied to study the damage caused by ion implantation in GaAs. The strain profiles were obtained by simulating the rocking curves using dynamical X-ray diffraction theory. It has been shown that damage and the perpendicular strain initially increases linearly as a function of energy deposited in nuclear collisions. The strain reaches its maximum value of 0.55% for a deposited energy density of 1.3 X 10(20) keV/cm3, which is sufficient to create = 15% damage. At this concentration of damage an enhanced defect production rate is observed. It is proposed that the amorphization of GaAs is initiated by a collapse of damaged regions after a critical strain has been reached.