On the mechanism of blistering phenomenon in high temperature H-implanted GaN

Abstract

The mechanism of high temperature H-implantation-induced surface blistering in GaN has been presented in this work. The plausible reason for the blistering in the as-implanted state is the increase in H-induced damage. This is contrary to the normal decrease of H-induced damage with the increase in implantation/annealing temperature, so called as the reverse annealing effect. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the formation of a damage band incorporated with large area microcracks lying along {0001} planes in zig-zag manner. These microcracks in an overpressurized state showed two fold overlapping, which resulted in higher damage-induced stress to cause the surface blistering.