Synthesis of GaNxAs1-x thin films by pulsed laser melting and rapid thermal annealing of N+-implanted GaAs

Abstract

We present a systematic investigation on the formation of the highly mismatched alloy GaNxAs1–x using N+-implantation followed by a combination of pulsed laser melting and rapid thermal annealing. Thin films of GaNxAs1–x with x as high as 0.016 and an activation efficiency of the implanted N up to 50% have been synthesized with structural and optical properties comparable to films grown by epitaxial deposition techniques with similar substitutional N content. The effects of N+ implantation dose, laser energy fluence, and rapid thermal annealing temperature on the N incorporation as well as optical and structural properties of the GaNxAs1–x films are discussed.