Tunable plasmonics in heavily doped GaAs fabricated by ion implantation and sub-second annealing

Semiconductors with ultra-high doping level are attractive for the near- and mid-infrared plasmonics. The III-V compound semiconductors are characterized by high electron mobility and low electron effective mass, where the plasma edge can be tuned by tailoring the doping level. In this work, we present the formation of heavily doped p- and n-type GaAs utilizing ion implantation of Te, S and Zn, followed by sub-second annealing. We demonstrate that both the millisecond range flash lamp annealing (solid phase epitaxy) and nanosecond range pulsed laser annealing (liquid phase epitaxy) are able to recrystallize the implanted layers and electrically activate dopants. The carrier concentration in the heavily doped p- and n-type GaAs is in the range of 1019~1020 cm-3. The plasmonic properties of implanted and annealed GaAs samples were investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. The obtained GaAs films display a room-temperature plasma frequency above 2200 cm-1, which makes GaAs attractive for sensing in the mid-infrared spectral range.