Impurity diffusion in ion implanted AlN layers on sapphire substrates by thermal annealing

We report on impurity diffusion in ion implanted AlN layers after thermal annealing. Silicon, tin, germanium, and magnesium ions were implanted into single-crystal Al-polar AlN layers grown on sapphire substrates. By annealing at 1600 °C, silicon and magnesium atoms were diffused in the AlN layer, while less change was observed in the distribution of germanium atoms. Silicon implantation introduced vacancy-related defects. By annealing at temperatures over 1300 °C, the vacancy-related defects were reduced, while oxygen atoms were diffused from the substrate due to sapphire decomposition. We reproducibly achieved silicon-implanted AlN layers with electrical conductance by controlling the annealing temperature and distribution of silicon and oxygen concentrations.