Steady-state thermally annealed GaAs with room-temperature-implanted Si

Semi-insulating Cr-doped single-crystal GaAs samples were implanted at room temperature with 300-keV Si ions in the dose range of (0.17–2.0)×1015 cm−2 and were subsequently steady-state annealed at 900 and 950 °C for 30 min in a H2 ambient with a Si3N4 coating. Differential Hall measurements showed that an upper threshold of about 2×1018/cm3 exists for the free-electron concentration. The as-implanted atomic-Si profile measured by SIMS follows the theoretical prediction, but is altered during annealing. The Cr distribution also changes, and a band of dislocation loops ∼2–3 kÅ wide is revealed by cross-sectional TEM at a mean depth of Rp∼3 kÅ. Incomplete electrical activation of the Si is shown to be the primary cause for the effect.