Improvement of the radiation hardness of SIMOX buried layers using nitrogen implantation

An investigation of hardening the buried oxides (BOX) in separation by implanted oxygen (SIMOX) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers to total-dose irradiation has been made by implanting nitrogen into the BOX layers with a constant dose at different implantation energies. The total-dose radiation hardness of the BOX layers is characterized by the high frequency capacitance-voltage (C-V) technique. The experimental results show that the implantation of nitrogen into the BOX layers can increase the BOX hardness to total-dose irradiation. Particularly, the implantation energy of nitrogen ions plays an important role in improving the radiation hardness of the BOX layers. The optimized implantation energy being used for a nitrogen dose, the hardness of BOX can be considerably improved. In addition, the C-V results show that there are differences between the BOX capacitances due to the different nitrogen implantation energies.

Fabrication of photonic crystals on several kinds of semiconductor materials by using focused-ion beam method

In this paper, we introduced the fabrication of photonic crystals on several kinds of semiconductor materials by using focused-ion beam machine, it shows that the method of focused-ion beam can fabricate two-dimensional photonic crystal and photonic crystal device efficiently, and the quality of the fabricated photonic crystal is high. Using the focused-ion beam method, we fabricate photonic crystal wavelength division multiplexer, and its characteristics are analyzed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of implantation of nitrogen into SIMOX buried oxide on its fixed positive charge density

In order to obtain greater radiation hardness for SIMOX (separation by implanted oxygen) materials, nitrogen was implanted into SIMOX BOX (buried oxide). However, it has been found by the C-V technique employed in this work that there is an obvious increase of the fixed positive charge density in the nitrogen-implanted BOX with a 150 out thickness and 4 x 10(15) cm(-2) nitrogen implantation dose, compared with that unimplanted with nitrogen. On the other hand, for the BOX layers with a 375 nm thickness and implanted with 2 x 10(15) and 3 x 10(15) cm(-2) nitrogen doses respectively, the increase of the fixed positive charge density induced by implanted nitrogen has not been observed. The post-implantation annealing conditions are identical for all the nitrogen-implanted samples. The increase in fixed positive charge density in the nitrogen-implanted 150 nm BOX is ascribed to the accumulation of implanted nitrogen near the BOX/Si interface due to the post-implantation annealing process according to SIMS results. In addition, it has also been found that the fixed positive charge density in initial BOX is very small. This means SIMOX BOX has a much lower oxide charge density than thermal SiO2 which contains a lot of oxide charges in most cases.

Fabrication of photonic crystal on semiconductor materials by using focued ion-beam

A method of manufacturing two-dimensional photonic crystals on several kinds of semiconductor materials in near infrared region by a focused ion beam is introduced, and the corresponding fabrication results are presented and show that the obtained parameters of fabricated photonic crystals are identical with the designed ones. Using the tunable laser source, the spectra of the fabricated passive photonic crystal and the active photonic crystal are measured. The experiment demonstrates that the focused ion-beam can be used to fabricate the perfect two-dimensional photonic crystals and their devices.

Nanoinstabilities as revealed by shrinkage of nanocavities in silicon during irradiation

While the thermodynamic nonequilibrium properties of nanoparticles are being extensively studied, the thermodynamic nonequilibrium properties of their counterpart: nanocavities, however, are less noticed. Here, we systematically review and comprehensively model the recently published results on the newly-found thermodynamic nonequilibriurn properties of nanocavities in covalently bound materials during energetic beam irradiation. We also review and model the thermodynamic nonequilibrium properties of nanoparticles. The review and modelling not only demonstrates the novel nonequilibriurn properties of such an open-volume nanostructure during external excitation but also gives a deep insight into the nonequilibrium thermodynamics of amorphous structures and the difference in the behaviours of defects in crystalline and in amorphous silicon. Especially, the review and modelling leads to two new concepts:anti-symmetry relation between a nanoparticle and a nanocavity；energetic beam induced-soft mode and lattice instability in condensed matter；which reveals that structure of a condensed matter would be unstable not only at nanosize scale but also at a nanotime scale in general. It is also reveals that such nanoinstabilities would be more pronounced in an amorphous structure than in a crystalline structure.

Surface morphology of ion-beam deposited carbon films under high temperature

Carbon films with an open-ended structure were obtained by mass-selected ion-beam deposition technique at 800degreesC. Raman spectra show that these films are mainly sp(2)-bonded. In our case, threshold ion energy of 140 eV was found for the formation of such surface morphology. High deposition temperature and ion-beam current density are also responsible for the growth of this structure. Additionally, the growth mechanism of the carbon films is discussed in this article. It was found that the ions sputtered pits on the substrate in the initial stage play a key role in the tubular surface morphology. (C) 2002 American Vacuum Society.

GdxSi grown with mass-analyzed low energy dual ion beam epitaxy technique

Semiconducting gadolinium silicide GdxSi samples were prepared by mass-analyzed low-energy dual ion beam epitaxy technique. Auger electron spectroscopy depth profiles indicate that the gadolinium ions are implanted into the single-crystal silicon substrate and formed 20 nm thick GdxSi film. X-ray double-crystal diffraction measurement shows that there is no new phase formed. The XPS spectra show that one type of silicon peaks whose binding energy is between that of silicide and silicon dioxide, and the gadolinium peak of binding energy is between that of metal Gd and Gd2O3. All of these results indicate that an amorphous semiconductor is formed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Anomalous temperature dependence of photoluminescence from a-C : H film deposited by energetic hydrocarbon ion beam

The temperature dependence of photoluminescence (PL) from a-C:H film deposited by CH3+ ion beam has been performed and an anomalous behavior has been reported. A transition temperature at which the PL intensity, peak position and full width at the half maximum change sharply was observed. It is proposed that different structure units. at least three, are responsible for such behavior. Above the transition point. increasing temperature will lead to the dominance of non-radiative recombination process, which quenches the PL overall and preferentially the red part, Possible emission mechanisms have been discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Violet/blue emission from hydrogenated amorphous carbon films deposited from energetic CH3+ ions and ion bombardment

Considering the complexity of the general plasma techniques, pure single CH3+ ion beams were selected for the deposition of hydrogenated amorphous (a) carbon films with various ion energies and temperatures. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements have been performed on the films and violet/blue emission has been observed. The violet/blue emission is attributed to the small size distribution of sp(2) clusters and is related to the intrinsic properties of CH3 terminals, which lead to a very high barrier for the photoexcited electrons. Ion bombardment plays an important role in the PL behavior. This would provide further insight into the growth dynamics of a-C:H films. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.

Carbonization process of Si(100) by ion-beam bombardment

The evolution of carbonization process on Si as a function of ion dose has been carried out by mass-selected ion-beam deposition technique. 3C-SiC layer has been obtained at low ion dose, which has been observed by reflection high energy electron diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The chemical states of Si and carbon have also been examined as a function of ion dose by XPS. Carbon enrichment was found regardless of the used ion dose here, which may be due to the high deposition rate. The formation mechanism of SiC has also been discussed based on the subplantation process. The work will also provide further understanding of the ion-bombardment effect. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Growth of SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor using Si2H6 gas and Ge solid sources molecular beam epitaxy

N-p-n Si/SiGe/Si heterostructure has been grown by a disilane (Si2H6) gas and Ge solid sources molecular beam epitaxy system using phosphine (PH3) and diborane (B2H6) as n- and p-type in situ doping sources, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements show that the grown heterostructure has a good quality, the boron doping is confined to the SiGe base layer, and the Ge has a trapezoidal profile. Postgrowth P implantation was performed to prepare a good ohmic contact to the emitter. Heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) has been fabricated using the grown heterostructure and a common-emitter current gain of 75 and a cut-off frequency of 20 GHz at 300 K have been obtained. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of ion-induced damage on GaNAs/GaAs quantum wells grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

The effect of ion-induced damage on GaNAs/GaAs quantum wells (QWs) grown by molecular beam epitaxy employing a DC plasma as the N source was investigated. Ion-induced damage results in: (i) an observed disappearance of pendellosung fringes in the X-ray diffraction pattern of the sample; (ii) a drastic decrease in intensity and a broadening in the full-width at half-maximum of photoluminescence spectra. It was shown that ion-induced damage strongly affected the bandedge potential fluctuations of the QWs. The bandedge potential fluctuations for the samples grown with and without ion removal magnets (IRMs) are 44 and 63 meV, respectively. It was found that the N-As atomic interdiffusion at the interfaces of the QWs was enhanced by the ion damage-induced defects. The estimated activation energies of the N-As atomic interdiffusion for the samples grown with and without IRMs are 3.34 and 1.78 eV, respectively. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Ion bombardment as the initial stage of diamond film growth

It is believed that during the initial stage of diamond film growth by chemical-vapor deposition (CVD), ion bombardment is the main mechanism in the bias-enhanced-nucleation (BEN) process. To verify such a statement, experiments by using mass-separated ion-beam deposition were carried out, in which a pure carbon ion beam, with precisely defined low energy, was selected for investigating the ion-bombardment effect on a Si substrate. The results are similar to those of the BEN process, which supports the ion-bombardment-enhanced-nucleation mechanism. The formation of sp(3) bonding is based on the presumption that the time of stress generation is much shorter than the duration of the relaxation process. The ion-bombarded Si is expected to enhance the CVD diamond nucleation density because the film contains amorphous carbon embedded with nanocrystalline diamond and defective graphite. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Investigation on the origin of wurtzite domains in thick cubic GaN using reactive ion etching

We measured the depth profiling of photoluminescence (PL) in cubic GaN films. The depth-resolved PL of normal grown GaN layers showed that the near-band-edge luminescence intensities of both cubic and wurtzite domains remained constant only until an etching depth of up to 2.7 mu m, but their ratio remained unchanged at all etching depths. Moreover, when a thin In0.1Ga0.9N layer was sandwiched between two GaN layers, the content of the wurtzite domains increased, and its distribution showed a dependence on thickness. As the reactive ion etching depth increased, the PL intensity ratio of cubic GaN to wurtzite domains increased. Based on the distribution, the strain relaxation, instead of the instability of cubic GaN at high temperature, was attributed to the origin of wurtzite domains. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.