Study of the photoluminescence properties of GaN irradiated with low fluence Ta ions

Abstract The irradiation influences the properties of GaN. We studied the irradiation of n -type, p -type, and i -type GaN with 2.896 GeV Ta ions, with experimental irradiation fluence of 3 × 10 8 , 3 × 10 9 , and 2 × 10 10 cm −2, respectively. Low fluence ion irradiation of GaN enhances the luminescence performance of the samples and releases stress between GaN and the sapphire substrate. We demonstrate by characterizing GaN that this is due to the displacement of Ga or N atoms repairing the defects caused by the entry of irradiated ions, thus enhancing the performance of GaN. This provides a reference for low fluence irradiation of GaN.