Raman-scattering studies of the structure of ion-implanted GaAs

Extensive Raman-scattering studies were performed in order to study the structure of ion-implanted GaAs, prior to any anneal. The spectroscopic evidence is consistent with a fine-scale mixture of amorphous and microcrystalline GaAs. Excessive bombardment with 120-keV SiF3+ ions results in a 500-A thick surface layer which is completely amorphous (a-GaAs). A detailed chemical-etch damage depth profile was completed for 45-keV Be+-implanted GaAs, which is not completely amorphized. The damage is characterized using the microcrystalline longitudinal-optical (LO) phonon frequency, line width, and intensity, and the intensity of the a-GaAs component of the Raman spectrum. The damage layer possesses a 1500-A thick surface layer of constant, high damage. This high-damage plateau is followed by a transition region in which the damage level smoothly decreases until the undisturbed crystal is reached near 4000 A. LO intensities were analyzed, within the amorphous/crystalline mixed-phase model, to obtain the volume fractions of the two components. Consistent estimates of the optical absorption in the high-damage plateau were obtained via two independent means