Crystal damage analysis of implanted AlxGa1-xN (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) by ion beam techniques

In this work ion implantation effects in AlxGa1-xN alloys were investigated by ion beam analysis, namely, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry/channelling (RBS/C) and heavy ion elastic recoil detection analysis (HI-ERDA) in order to assess the contribution of the AIN content on the radiation resistance and elemental distribution. AlxGa1-xN films (0 <= x <= 1) were implanted at room temperature (RT) with different ions (200 keV argon (Ar), 300 keV xenon (Xe) and 300 keV europium (Eu)). Unexpectedly, RBS/C reveals that the radiation damage at high fluences is increased for high AIN molar fractions despite of lower damage production cross sections in AIN as compared to GaN. The comparison of different ion masses allowed concluding that this effect is independent of the cascade density. Complementary HI-ERDA of Ar implanted AlxGa1-xN alloys revealed a nitrogen deficiency in the implanted layer for high AlN content alloys which may be the reason for their unexpected damage formation behaviour.