Co-Implantation and autocompensation in close contact rapid thermal annealing of Si-implanted GaAs:Cr

Close contact rapid thermal annealing of semi-insulating GaAs:Cr implanted with Si, Si + Al, and Si + P has been studied using variable temperature Hall effect measurements and low temperature (4.2K) photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. Isochronal (10 sec) and isothermal (1000° C) anneals indicate that As is lost from the surface during close contact annealing at high anneal temperatures and long anneal times. Samples which were implanted with Si alone show maximum activation at an annealing temperature of 900° C, above which activation efficiency decreases. Low temperature Hall and PL measurements indicate that this reduced activation is due to increasing auto-compensation of Si donors by Si acceptors at higher anneal temperatures. However, co-implantation of column V elements can increase the activation of Si implants by reducing Si occupancy of As sites and increasing Si occupancy of Ga sites, and therebyoffset the effects of As loss from the surface. For samples implanted with Si + P, activation increases continuously up to a maximum at an anneal temperature of 1050° C, and both low temperature Hall and PL measurements indicate that autocompensation does not increase in this case as the anneal temperature increases. In contrast, samples implanted with Si + Al show very low activation and very high compensation at all anneal temperatures, as expected. The use of column V co-implants in conjunction with close contact RTA can produce excellent donor activation of Si implanted GaAs.