GaSb and InSb are semiconductors suitable for fabricating high-frequency electronic and optoelectronic devices. Ion implantation, commonly used for introduction of electrically-active impurities (“doping”) in semiconductor materials, can lead to the damage/amorphization of such materials. In addition appropriate implant conditions will render GaSb and InSb porous leading to fascinating network structures (see image). Porous structures can be observed after irradiation with ions in a wide energy range, between keV and GeV, however, the porous morphology depends on the ion energy. In particular the effect of high energy (>50 MeV) irradiation has not yet been studied in detail for GaSb and InSb but offers high potential to create novel nanostructures for application in electronic and optoelectronic devices.

The project seeks to investigate the structure and morphology of the fascinating porous networks that evolve in the antimonides upon high energy ion irradiation and study its stability under a variety of application relevant conditions.  It offers the ability for the student to become acquainted with a range of state of the art analytical and processing techniques including synchrotron x-ray techniques at the state-of-the-art Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne and Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy at the ANU.

Depending on the extent of the project the student can develop skills in:

• High energy ion beam processing
• Synchrotron based small angle x-ray scattering and x-ray absorption spectroscopy
• Microscopy techniques such as transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy
• Laboratory based analytical techniques such as x-ray diffraction and raman spectroscopy
• Semiconductor processing techniques and device fabrication
• Working in a team on a multidisciplinary project

Interest in solid state physics, nanotechnology, materials science, synchrotron techniques