Irradiation effects on the compensation of semi-insulating GaAs for particle detector application

The distribution of the electric field and its spatial extent are key predictors of the charge collection efficiency of particle detectors. The electric field is strictly related to the electrically active defects, which are significantly modified by irradiation. In this paper we analyze the native and radiation-induced defects and infer the mechanisms controlling the electrical properties of semi-insulating GaAs Schottky diodes. The correlation between the electric-field distribution and deep levels confirms that the compensation mechanisms are mainly due to the donorlike centers and to their enhanced neutralization, which occurs for moderately high electric fields. Moreover, taking into account the charge balance among native and irradiation-induced defects, the active region extent is predicted.