Implant isolation mechanisms in GaAs, AlGaAs, InP and InGaAs

The authors have investigated the thermal stability of high resistivity regions introduced by ion bombardment of GaAs, AlGaAs, InP and InGaAs. For low doses in which the ion species density is below that of the doping density in the target material, the authors obtain the usual damage-related compensation in which deep levels created by the bombardment trap the charge carriers. By this method one creates material with resistivities around 108Ω/□ (n- or p-type GaAs and AlGaAs, p-type InP), around 106Ω/□ (n-type InP) or around 105Ω/□ (n-type InGaAs or p-type InGaAs), with a return of the initial resistivity after elevated temperature annealing (∼ 600 degrees C for GaAs and AlGaAs, ∼ 500 degrees C for InP and In GaAs). The more interesting case is the use of higher dose implants of species which create chemical deep levels. This occurs for O in n-type AlGaAs where O creates a deep acceptor (Ec - 0.49 eV), and Fe in n-type InP and InGaAs, where it is also a deep acceptor. When the concentration of these species exceeds the doping density in the material, the bombarded regions retain their high resistivity even after high temperature annealing (>1000 degrees C for GaAs and AlGaAs, >850 degrees C for InP and InGaAs). The case of O in GaAs appears to represent a third mechanism; it creates thermally stable material only in the case of Be-doped GaAs, suggesting an ion-pairing reaction