Ion-cleaning damage in (100) GaAs,and its effect on schottky diodes

This study investigates the effect of ion cleaning damage of (100) GaAs in the 100–1000 eV range, and also its recovery with thermal annealing to 400°C. It is shown that GaAs could be annealed to a considerable extent if the ion-damage was ? 100 eV. However, full recovery was not achieved. On the other hand, samples damaged at ? 400 eV became progressively worse with annealing. Measurements indicate that these samples are dominated by the effect of arsenic variances within the bulk. These remain in the bulk, but are distributed spatially upon annealing. They behave as deep donors, so that the net electron concentration in the bulk is enhanced. Aluminum-n GaAs Schottky diodes were used as a vehicle for this study.