Impurity diffusion in ion implanted AlN layers on sapphire substrates by thermal annealing

We report on impurity diffusion in ion implanted AlN layers after thermal annealing. Silicon, tin, germanium, and magnesium ions were implanted into single-crystal AlN layers grown on sapphire substrates. By annealing at 1600oC, silicon and magnesium atoms were diffused in the AlN layer, while less change was observed in the distribution of germanium atoms. Silicon implantation introduced vacancy-related defects. By annealing at temperatures over 1300oC, the vacancy-related defects were reduced, while oxygen atoms were diffused from the substrate due to sapphire decomposition. We reproducibly achieved silicon-implanted AlN layers with electrical conductance by controlling the annealing temperature and distribution of silicon and oxygen concentrations.

An Effective Approach to Acquire the Impurity Diffusion Coefficients in Binary Alloys with Quantified Uncertainties

In this paper, we started from the composition-dependent interdiffusion coefficients with quantified uncertainties in binary alloys by integrating the Matano-based method, distribution functions, and uncertainty propagation approach. After carefully defining the numerically stable region for the interdiffusion coefficients, the suitable pre-set functions were screened to achieve the reasonable fit to the D-c and μ-c data according to the Akaike information criterion. With the fitted D-c and μ-c curves, the impurity diffusion coefficients with uncertainties can be directly determined. Benchmark tests in five hypothetical binary systems with different preset D-c relations were then utilized to validate the presently effective approach, followed by practical applications in five real cases, i.e., fcc Ni-Co, fcc Cu-Al, fcc Pt-Ni, hcp Mg-Zn, and bcc Ti-V alloys. The impurity diffusion coefficients with uncertainties derived by the presently effective approach were found to be in excellent agreement with the data by tracer experiments, indicating that this effective approach can serve as a standard one for acquiring the high-quality impurity diffusion coefficients in binary alloys with quantified uncertainties, especially for the noble metals and the cases without suitable radioactive tracer isotopes.