Photoluminescence of gallium ion irradiated hexagonal and cubic GaN quantum dots

We report on ion implantation into GaN QDs and investigate their radiation hardness. The experimental study is carried out by photoluminescence (PL) measurements on molecular beam epitaxy-grown GaN quantum dots after ion implantation. Both quantum dots grown in the hexagonal (H) and the cubic (C) crystal structure were subjected to gallium ions with an energy of 400 kV (H) and 75 kV (C) with fluences ranging from 5×1010 cm−2 to 1×1014 cm−2 (H) and to 1×1015 cm−2 (C), respectively. Low-temperature PL measurements reveal a PL quenching for which a quantitative model as a function of the ion fluence is developed. A high degradation resistance is concluded. A non-radiative trap with one main activation energy is found for all QD structures by temperature-dependent PL measurements. Further analysis of fluence-dependent PL energy shifts shows ion-induced intermixing and strain effects. Particular for the hexagonal quantum dots, a strong influence of the quantum confined Stark effect is present.