Lattice damage produced in GaN by swift heavy ions

Wurtzite GaN epilayers bombarded at 300 K with 200 MeV ¹⁹⁷Au¹⁶⁺ ions are studied by a combination of transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and Rutherford backscattering/channeling spectrometry (RBS/C). Results reveal the formation of near-continuous tracks propagating throughout the entire ∼1.5-μm-thick GaN film. These tracks, ∼100 Å in diameter, exhibit a large degree of structural disordering but do not appear to be amorphous. Throughout the bombarded epilayer, high-resolution TEM reveals planar defects which are parallel to the basal plane of the GaN film. The gross level of lattice disorder, as measured by RBS/C, gradually increases with increasing ion fluence up to ∼10¹³ cm¯². For larger fluences, delamination of the nitride film from the sapphire substrate occurs. Based on these results, physical mechanisms of the formation of lattice disorder in GaN in such a high electronic stopping power regime are discussed.This research was supported in part by the Australian Research Council