Swift-heavy-ion-induced damage formation in III-V binary and ternary semiconductors

Damage formation in InP, GaP, InAs, GaAs, and the related ternary alloys Ga0.50In0.50P and Ga0.47In0.53As irradiated at room temperature with 185 MeV Au ions was studied using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy in channeling configuration, transmission electron microscopy, and small-angle x-ray scattering. Despite nearly identical ion-energy loss in these materials, their behavior under swift-heavy-ion irradiation is strikingly different: InP and Ga0.50In0.50P are readily amorphized, GaP and GaAs remain almost undamaged and InAs and Ga0.47In0.53As exhibit intermediate behavior. A material-dependent combination of irradiation-induced damage formation and annealing is proposed to describe the different responses of the III-V materials to electronic energy loss.