LAUSR

Abstract 2 MeV Argon (Ar+) ion irradiation in the fluence range of 1 × 1016 to 5 × 1016 ions/cm2 at normal incidence results in formation of a mesoporous layer with interconnected nanofiber structures underneath a thin continuous layer in molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown GaSb layers on GaAs substrates. Ion irradiation in the fluence range of 1 × 1012 to 1 × 1015 ions/cm2 resulted in no change in the layer morphology. The structural modification in the epi-layers follows the trend observed in Ar+-ion irradiated GaSb epi-layers at keV range energies reported earlier by us and is explained using a simulation of ion-matter interaction at different energies. Raman spectroscopy and high resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) results from the 2 MeV ion irradiated samples suggest preservation of crystallinity in the irradiated layers till the ion fluence of 1 × 1015 ions/cm2 and an increasing residual stress with increasing ion fluence.