RBS/channeling studies of swift heavy ion irradiated InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures

In0.18Ga0.82As/GaAs heterostructures of various layer thicknesses grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) were irradiated by silver ions with a fixed energy and fluence. The thicknesses of the layers were beyond critical thickness and expected to be partially strain relaxed. The defects generated by partial strain relaxation and the effects of irradiation on these defects have been characterized by RBS/channeling. The dechanneling parameter and its dependence on incident ion energy has been determined. The resulting E0.5 dependence of the dechanneling parameter has been attributed to the presence of misfit dislocations at the interface. The effect of swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation on partial relaxations is discussed in detail.