Effects of Mn Ion Implantation on XPS Spectroscopy of GaN Thin Films

Gallium nitride (GaN) thin film was deposited onto a sapphire substrate and then implanted with 250 keV Mn ions at two different doses of 2 x 10(16) ions/cm(2) and 5 x 10(16) ions/cm(2). The as-grown and post-implantation-thermally annealed samples were studied in detail using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XPS peaks of Ga 3d, Ga 2p, N ls, Mn 2p and C is were recorded in addition to a full survey of the samples. The doublet peaks of Ga 2p for pure GaN were observed blue-shifted when compared with elemental Ga, and appeared further shifted to higher energies for the implanted samples. These observations point to changes in the bonds and the chemical environment of the host as a result of ion implantation. The results revealed broadening of the N is peak after implantation, which is interpreted in terms of the presence of N-Mn bonds in addition to N-Ga bonds. The XPS spectra of Mn 2p recorded for ion-implanted samples indicated splitting of Mn 2p(1/2) and Mn 2p(3/2) peaks higher than that for metallic Mn, which helps rule out the possibility of clustering and points to substitutional doping of Mn. These observations provide a framework that sheds light on the local environment of the material for understanding the mechanism of magnetic exchange interactions in Mn:GaN based diluted magnetic semiconductors.