Investigations of Depth Profile of Native Oxide Layers Covering GaAs Implanted with Noble Gas by Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy with Nuclear Reaction

The samples employed in the investigation were semi-insulating GaAs wafers. Noble gas has been implanted using the UNIMAS ion implanter at energy 100 keV, fluence of 3 × 1015 ions/cm2. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy with nuclear reaction analysis (RBS/NR) method was used to determine the thickness and atomic composition of elements in the samples. The nuclear reaction 16O(α,α)16O exhibits elastic resonance at around energy 3.05 MeV. This resonance provides a useful method for expanding RBS techniques to investigate the concentration of oxygen present on sample surfaces. The RBS/NR approach’s conclusion indicates that the surface of GaAs samples contains an oxygen-enriched layer. It has also been shown that the thickness of native oxide layer influence by the type of ion.