Change in the surface state of the single-crystal germanium as a result of implantation with silver ions and annealing with light pulses

Abstract

Single-crystal c-Ge plates implanted with Ag+ ions with an energy of E=30 keV, current density of the ion beam J = 5 μA/cm2 and a dose of D = 2.5· 1016 ion/cm2 were subjected to rapid thermal annealing by single light pulses of various durations from 1 up to 9.5 s. By scanning electron microscopy and optical reflection spectroscopy measurements it was shown that after ion implantation an amorphous porous Ag : PGe layer of spongy structure, consisting of Ge nanowires, is formed on the surface of c-Ge substrates. It was found that the annealing with an increase in the pulse duration up to 5 s successively leads to an increase in the Ge nanowire diameters from 26 to 35 nm. With longer pulses, the porous Ag : PGe structure is destroyed and Ag evaporates from the implanted layers. Keywords: nanoporous germanium, ion implantation, rapid thermal annealing.