Excimer laser annealing of Er-implanted GaN

Thin films of Er-implanted GaN are annealed with pulses of 31 ns duration from a KrF excimer laser. The degree of annealing is evaluated by measuring the Er photoluminescence at 1540 nm. The implantation dose is 4x10(13)-4x10(15) cm(-2). The laser fluence is 0.15-0.88 J/cm(2). The number of laser pulses is 10(2)-5x10(4). A total heating time on the order of 1 ms is long enough to produce good structural reordering, and short enough to avoid decomposition. The results are compared with a numerical simulation of the heating as a function of time and depth in the sample. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.