Alleviating high temperature magnesium implanted radiation damage of GaN through nitrogen plasma surface treatment

Abstract A novel nitrogen plasma treatment to attenuate the radiation damage in Mg-ion implanted GaN is proposed. The effect of nitrogen plasma process parameters, such as radio frequency power (50–100 W) and processing time (2.5–5 min), on the surface and bulk material properties of GaN has been investigated. The depth profile measured by secondary ion mass spectroscopy shows that the doped Mg concentration and depth box profile are 1 × 10 19 cm −3 and 100 nm, respectively, being consistent with the simulated results obtained using Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter computer code. The transmission line method shows a notable reduction in contact resistance for the Mg-ion implanted sample treated with nitrogen plasma at 50 W for 2.5 min, compared to the control, as-implanted sample. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of nitrogen treated samples at 50 W indicates an increase in the occupied area of Ga–N bonds on the surface, which are attributed to the mitigation of nitrogen-related defects. Raman spectroscopy shows an enhancement in crystalline quality, and the alleviation of compressive stress. The results suggest that nitrogen plasma treatment at 50 W followed by rapid thermal annealing can effectively remove radiation induced damage in Mg-ion implanted GaN.