STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF 70 MeV Si5+ ION IRRADIATION INDUCED NANOCLUSTERS OF GALLIUM NITRIDE
70 MeV Si ions irradiation at the liquid nitrogen temperature (77 K) induced nanoclustering on GaN epilayers grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) are reported. HRXRD rocking curves show that there are no localized amorphization due to irradiation. Atomic force microscopy images reveal the formation of nanoclusters on the surface of the irradiated samples. On increasing the fluence the number of modified regions on the surface increases and resulted in three dimensional growth of nanocluster due to overlapping and coalescence. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies confirm that the surface features are composed of GaN . The variation of carrier concentration and hall mobility with respect to ion fluence are also studied. The effects of ion-beam induced modifications on the structural, surface characteristics and electrical properties of GaN are studied and possible mechanisms responsible for the modifications are discussed.