Swift Heavy Ions Induced Modifications in Semiconductors

It is already demonstrated that ion beam techniques are very effective and novel advanced technology for modifying both the surface and bulk properties of various solids. The ion-induced effects depends mainly on both the ion and material properties. Here, we are focusing on studying one of the promising semiconductors, namely gallium phosphide (GaP) single crystals, after irradiation with swift heavy ions (SHI) of MeV-GeV kinetic energy range. The ion irradiation will be performed using the GSI Universal Linear Accelerator (UNILAC) and 6 MeV Tandem accelerator. The ion-induced modifications in GaP samples will be investigated using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), UV-Vis spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. RBS is expected to show the structural modifications induced by SHI. The optical spectroscopic measurements are devoted to probe the ion induced microscopic defects as well as the change of the material band gab. XPS will be used for studying the elemental composition and oxidation state of the elements within the irradiated samples. The results of the performed experiments are expected to show that SHI can be used for tuning the optical and structural modifications of GaP semiconducting materials by varying the ion fluence and energy loss. The ion-induced tailoring of the GaP optical properties is of high technological relevance where it is used efficiently in the fabrication of various devices.