Thermal stability of ion-implanted ZnO

Abstract

Zinc oxide single crystals implanted at room temperature with high-dose (1.4× 1017 cm-2) 300 keV As+ ions are annealed at 1000-1200 °C. Damage recovery is studied by a combination of Rutherford backscattering/channeling spectrometry (RBS/C), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM), and atomic force microscopy. Results show that such a thermal treatment leads to the decomposition and evaporation of the heavily damaged layer instead of apparent defect recovery and recrystallization that could be inferred from RBS/C and XTEM data alone. This study shows that heavily damaged ZnO has relatively poor thermal stability compared to as-grown ZnO which is a significant result and has implications for understanding results on thermal annealing of ion-implanted ZnO. Show more