Structural impact of Mn implantation on ZnO

Abstract

We present a systematic analysis of the structural properties of Mn implanted ZnO by Raman scattering and complementary methods in the Mn composition range 0.2-8 at.% (relative to Zn) with an implantation step profile of about 300 nm depth. Mn ions are substitutionally incorporated on Zn sites in the ZnO wurtzite lattice and no secondary phases are detected. Beside the common eigenmodes of the ZnO host lattice, we observe additional modes related to the Mn implantation, which are studied for different Mn concentrations and annealing procedures. We distinguish between implantation damage and impurity induced disorder, and also show that the spectral feature which is often assigned to a Mn local vibrational mode (LVM) in ZnO consists of two separate modes. We present evidence that only one of these features is a candidate for a LVM.