The effects of ion implantation on the interdiffusion coefficients in In_xGa_1−xAs/GaAs quantum well structures

Photoluminescence coupled with repetitive thermal annealing has been used to determine the diffusion coefficients for intermixing in In_xGa_1−xAs/GaAs quantum wells and to study the subsequent effects of ion implantation on the intermixing. It is shown that following ion implantation there is a very fast interdiffusion process, which is independent of the implanted ion and that is thought to be due to the rapid diffusion of interstitials created during the implantation. Following this rapid process, it was found that neither gallium nor krypton ions had any effect on the subsequent interdiffusion coefficient. Following arsenic implantation in addition to the initial damage related process, an enhanced region of interdiffusion was observed with a diffusion coefficient that was an order of magnitude greater than that of an unimplanted control wafer. This enhanced process is thought to be due to the creation of group III vacancies by the arsenic atoms moving onto group V lattice sites. This fast process was present until the structure had broadened by about 75 Å when the diffusion coefficient returned to the unimplanted control value. The activation energy for the interdiffusion was measured over the temperature range 1050–750°C and a value of 3.7±0.1 eV was measured. This was found to be independent of the implanted ion.