Structure and luminescence of a-plane GaN on r-plane sapphire substrate modified by Si implantation

We show the structural and optical properties of non-polar a-plane GaN epitaxial films modified by Si ion implantation. Upon gradually raising Si fluences from 5*10¹³ /cm² to 5*10¹⁵ /cm², the n-type dopant concentration gradually increases from 4.6*10¹⁸ /cm² to 4.5*10²⁰ /cm², while the generated vacancy density accordingly raises from 3.7*10¹³ /cm² to 3.8*10¹⁵ /cm². Moreover, despite that the implantation enhances structural disorder, the epitaxial structure of the implanted region is still well preserved which is confirmed by Rutherford backscattering channeling spectrometry measurements. The monotonical uniaxial lattice expansion along the a direction (out-of-plane direction) is observed as a function of fluences till 1*10¹⁵ /cm², which ceases at the overdose of 5*10¹⁵ /cm² due to the partial amorphization in the surface region. Upon raising irradiation dose, a yellow emission in the as-grown sample is gradually quenched, probably due to the irradiation-induced generation of non-radiative recombination centers.