Simulation of displacement damage induced by protons incident on Al_<i>x</i>Ga_1<i>–x</i>N materials

Abstract

Due to its excellent electrical properties and irradiation resistance, Gallium Nitride material, in combination with Al&lt;sub&gt;x&lt;/sub&gt;Ga&lt;sub&gt;1-x&lt;/sub&gt;N materials of different contents, are expected to be used in future space electronics systems. However, most of their displacement damage studies are currently focused on GaN materials, and less on Al&lt;sub&gt;x&lt;/sub&gt;Ga&lt;sub&gt;1-x&lt;/sub&gt;N materials. The displacement damage mechanism of protons from 10 keV to 300 MeV in Al&lt;sub&gt;x&lt;/sub&gt;Ga&lt;sub&gt;1-x&lt;/sub&gt;N materials with different Al element contents is investigated by binary collision approximation method. The results show that the non-ionization energy loss of Al&lt;sub&gt;x&lt;/sub&gt;Ga&lt;sub&gt;1-x&lt;/sub&gt;N material is found to decrease with the increment of proton energy. When the proton energy is lower than 40 MeV, the non-ionization energy loss becomes larger with the increase of Al content, while the trend is reversed when the proton energy is increased. Analyzing the primary knock-on atoms and non-ionizing energy deposition caused by protons, it is found that the primary knock-on atoms spectra of different Al&lt;sub&gt;x&lt;/sub&gt;Ga&lt;sub&gt;1-x&lt;/sub&gt;N materials are similar, but the higher the content of Al, the higher the proportion of the self pri- mary knock-on atoms generated by elastic collisions. For the non-ionizing energy deposition produced by protons at different depth, the energy deposition due to elastic collisions is largest at the end of the trajectory, while the energy deposition due to inelastic collisions is uniformly distributed at the front of the trajectory but decreases at the end of the trajectory. This study provides a good insight for the application of GaN materials and devices in space radiation environment.