Crucial role of implanted atoms on dynamic defect annealing in ZnO

Processes of defect formation in radiation hard semiconductors exhibiting efficient dynamic annealing are different from those in amorphizible ones, and the latter are generally more well-studied. In the present work, we investigate structural disorder in wurtzite ZnO, which is a radiation hard material, implanted with different ions at room temperature and 15 K. The sample analysis was undertaken by Rutherford backscattering/channeling spectrometry performed in-situ without changing the sample temperature. The fluence dependence of bulk disorder exhibits the so-called IV-stage evolution, where the high fluence regime is characterized by both a strong influence on the damage build-up by the ion type and a reverse temperature effect. A straightforward methodology is demonstrated to differentiate between the contributions of pure ballistic and ion-defect reaction processes in the damage formation. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.