Title: Effects of radiation damage in GaN and related materials

Authors: S.J. Pearton, A.Y. Polyakov

Addresses: Department of Materials Science Engineering P.O Box 116400 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611 USA. ' Institute of Rare Metals Moscow, 119017 Tolmachevsky, 5, Russia

Abstract: A brief review of the effects of proton, neutron, γ-ray and electron irradiation of GaN materials and devices is presented. Neutron irradiation tends to create disordered regions in the GaN, while the damage from the other forms of radiation is more typically point defects. In all cases, the damaged region contains carrier traps that reduce the conductivity of the GaN and at high enough doses, a severe degradation of device performance. GaN is several orders of magnitude more resistant to radiation damage than GaAs.

Keywords: GaN; gallium nitride; radiation damage; traps; neutrons; protons; electrons; gamma rays; high electron mobility transistors; HEMTs; light-emitting diodes; LEDs; mobility; irradiation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMSI.2008.018902

International Journal of Materials and Structural Integrity, 2008 Vol.2 No.1/2, pp.93 - 105

Published online: 21 Jun 2008 *

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