Electrical isolation of ZnO by ion bombardment

Abstract

The evolution of sheet resistance of n-type single-crystal wurtzite ZnO epilayers exposed to bombardment with MeV H1, Li7, O16, and Si28 ions at room temperature is studied in situ. We demonstrate that sheet resistance of ZnO can be increased by about 7 orders of magnitude as a result of ion irradiation. Due to extremely efficient dynamic annealing in ZnO, the ion doses needed for isolation of this material are about 2 orders of magnitude larger than corresponding doses in the case of another wide-bandgap semiconductor, GaN. Results also show that the ion doses necessary for electrical isolation close-to-inversely depend on the number of ion-beam-generated atomic displacements. However, in all the cases studied, defect-induced electrical isolation of ZnO is unstable to rapid thermal annealing at temperatures above ∼300 °C.

Production and recovery of defects in phosphorus-implanted ZnO

“…There have been a number of studies on the defects induced by ion implantation in ZnO using Rutherford backscattering, 12,13 photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence, 14 deep-level transient spectroscopy, 15 secondary-ion-mass spectrometry, 16 and other electrical characterization methods. 17,18 In addition to these methods, positron annihilation spectroscopy has recently emerged as a powerful tool for the study of vacancy-type defects in semiconductors. 19 Due to the Coulomb repulsion from the positive-ion cores, positrons are more likely to be trapped by open volume defects where atoms are missing.…”

Ion beam induced evolution of surface morphology and optical properties of SnO2–ZnO nanocomposite thin films

“…The structural, optical, electrical and magnetic properties of nanostructured materials and nanocomposites can be modified by ion irradiation [30][31][32][33]. Energetic ions are excellent tools for surface nanostructuring of solids [34,35].…”

Ferromagnetic transition metal implanted ZnO: A diluted magnetic semiconductor?

“…This is very important for the electrical doping of ZnO by ion implantation, where point defects are believed to decrease the conductivity [47]. With post-implantation annealing, one expects that the metallic Fe NC grow driven by Ostwald rippening.…”