THz wave emission of GaAs induced by He+ ion implantation

Semi-Insulating Gallium Arsenide (SI-GaAs) was implanted with 1.5 MeV He+ ions and THz photoconductive antenna (PCA) was prepared on the implanted SI-GaAs surface. The antenna was applied as the THz wave emission source of a terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) and the THz wave emission ability was studied as a function of the implantation dose. It is found that the THz signal intensity increases with increase of implantation dose, and after reaching to a peak value the THz signal intensity decreases with further implantation. The best THz emission ability was achieved at a dose value between 1 × 1015 and 1 × 1016 ions/cm2. It is believed that the implantation induced defects in the 1 μm-thick surface area are responsible for the enhanced THz emission ability. The work proved that better THz photoconductive antenna than that made by low-temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) can be produced through He-ion implantation at proper dose.