Study of hydrogen implantation-induced blistering in GaSb for potential layer transfer applications

Abstract

GaSb samples were implanted by 100 keV hydrogen ions (H + ) at room temperature with fluence values of 1 × 10 17 and 2 × 10 17 ions cm −2 . Post-implantation annealing studies revealed that the samples implanted with a fluence of 2 × 10 17 ions cm −2 did not show blistering/exfoliation. For the lower fluence, the samples showed the formation of surface blisters/craters along with the large area exfoliation of the top H-implanted surface. Topographical investigations of the samples were carried out using Nomarski optical microscopy, atomic force microscopy and stylus surface profilometry. The lateral sizes and heights of the blisters varied between 2–5 µ m and 5–20 nm respectively. The root mean square roughness of the exfoliated region was about 12 nm while the exfoliation depth was found to be 730 nm. The exfoliation depth in the H-implanted GaSb is close to the damage concentration peak as found from SRIM calculations. The Föppl–von Karman theory of thin plates has been used to understand the effect of internal pressure and stress on the surface blistering. Using the above mentioned implantation and annealing parameters, potential layer transfer of GaSb could be enabled.