Displacement damage and radiation effects in boron implanted sapphire

Optical absorption, thermal annealing and X-irradiation studies are reported on samples of boron implanted sapphire. The measurements indicate that implantation produces displacement damage in the sapphire with associated optical absorption bands at 2600 A and 2050 A as well as causing a displacement of the fundamental absorption edge to lower energies. The displacement damage can be thermally annealed with major stages at about 375 C and 850 C. X-irradiation to a dose of circa 10,000,000 rads (Si) after a partial thermal anneal does not change the magnitude of any absorption band or introduce new bands. The implications of the observed behavior for boron implanted MOSOS devices is discussed.