Influence of fast neutrons on electrical properties in neutron transmutation doped GaAs: New annealing stage

In neutron transmutation doping (NTD) to the undoped semi‐insulating GaAs, a new annealing stage related to the tunneling assisted hopping conduction was found around 400 °C for fast neutron fluences of ≥7.0×1017 n/cm2. It is suggested that this stage is based on the enhancement in the hopping conduction by the activated dopant in the NTD process. The stage was not observed for the irradiation with a small amount of fast neutrons. The activation energy for the annihilation of As antisite defects (AsGa) was found to be 0.9 eV. The annealing temperature to achieve the desired carried concentration increased with the fast neutron fluence.