Arsenic Diffusion in the Natural Oxidation of the Heavily Defected GaAs Surface

Abstract

Oxidation specific of the defected GaAs has been considered on the basis of elemental and chemical composition study of the oxide layer naturally emerged on the GaAs surface strongly irradiated by Ar⁺ ions with energy E_i = 3000 eV and fluence Q ~ 3 × 10¹⁵ cm^–2. The diffusivity of elemental arsenic known to form an interface layer was shown to increase at room temperature by more than 35 orders of magnitude due to radiation defects and to amount to the value D ~ 1 × 10^–17 cm²/s. Efficient room temperature diffusion results in total removal of elemental arsenic from oxide into the bulk, thus curing the damaged substrate.