Evolution of Fe-rich precipitates in Fe implanted Ge(1 1 0) surfaces as observed by scanning Auger microscopy

Ge(1 1 0) surfaces were implanted with Fe ions with an acceleration voltage of 40 kV using a metal vapour vacuum arc (MEVVA) source implanter at various doses from 5×1016 to 5.6×1017 ions/cm2. Scanning Auger micrographs (SAM) show that the lateral distribution of Fe is homogeneous up to a dose of 1×1017 ions/cm2. At the dose of 2×1017 ions/cm2, there is a separation of Fe-rich and Fe-poor regions. With further increase in dose, Fe content and lateral size of the Fe-rich region increases. The depth of the Fe concentration profile is found to increase with increase in dose. This is also consistent with the damage width measured by Rutherford backscattering (RBS) spectrometry and ion channelling.