Annealing of Electron-Irradiated GaAs

The annealing behavior of $n$-type GaAs irradiated at room temperature with 1-MeV electrons has been investigated. The fraction $f$ of the defects remaining after annealing for a time $t$ at an elevated temperature, decays according to the relationship, $f=a\exp (-{\lambda }_{1}t)+(1-a)\mathrm{}\exp (-{\lambda }_{2}t)$. The rate constants ${\lambda }_1$ for various specimens annealed at different temperatures obey the Arrhenius relationship, giving an activation energy of 1.1±0.05 eV. ${\lambda }_1$ appears to be an intrinsic property of $n$-type GaAs. ${\lambda }_2$, on the other hand, is dependent on the carrier density, i.e., the annealing is influenced by the position of the Fermi level. The recovery of $p$-type specimens is qualitatively different than that of $n$ type. Some preliminary results concerning the effect of irradiation on electrical properties are also included.