High-level damage saturation below amorphisation in ion implanted β-Ga2O3

Ion implantation induced effects were studied in single crystalline 〈0 1 0〉 oriented bulk β-Ga2O3 at room temperature using P, Ar and Sn ions with ion fluences ranging from 1 × 1011 up to 2 × 1015 cm−2. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in channelling configuration (RBS) using He ions of various ion energies was applied for damage analysis. Clear damage peaks are visible in the RBS spectra. The concentration of displaced lattice atoms in the maximum of the distribution (as deduced from the channelling spectra) increases with increasing ion fluence up to a saturation value of about 90%. Once this level is reached, further implantation only leads to a broadening of the distribution, while the concentration remains at 90%. The ion fluence dependence of maximum damage concentration is represented by a common model assuming two types of defects: point defects (which can recombine with those already existing from previous ion impacts) and non-recombinable damage clusters. The damage produced dominantly consists of randomly displaced lattice atoms, which indicates point defects and point defect complexes. For higher damage levels also a contribution of correlated displaced lattice atoms can be identified. This suggests that the damage clusters are not amorphous. A possible explanation of the observed results could be the formation of another phase of Ga2O3.