BN, AlN, GaN, InN: Charge Neutrality Level, Surface, Interfaces, Doping

Experimental and theoretical determination of the role of ions in atomic layer annealing

“…However, at very low bias energy, the use of Ne resulted in more effective crystallization than Ar. It is possible that this is due to the much higher ionization energy of Ne (21.6 eV) as compared to Ar (15.8 eV) and that at low kinetic energy, the potential energy imparted on the film as a result of neutralization of the Ne ions 23 (thermal energy of B17.1 eV including AlN charge neutrality level of B4.5 eV) 26 is the dominant effect whereas at higher kinetic energy (bias), momentum transfer induced collision cascades become the dominant factor. At À10 V, Ar ions do not have enough potential energy (compared to Ne ion) nor momentum transfer (compared to Kr), leading to poor crystallization of growing AlN films as shown in the left panel of Fig.…”