Recovery of Electron Radiation Damage in n -Type InSb

The preduction and recovery of electron radiation damage in n-type InSb has been studied by means of Hallcoefficient and electrical-conductivity measurements. Irradiations were performed mainly at 80 deg K, since no recovery was observed between 41 and 80 deg K. The damage recovered in five well-defined stages with the recovery nearly complete at 320 deg K. Isochronal and isothermal recovery was monitored in each of the stages, allowing a determination of the activation energies for recovery and a study of the recovery kinetics. None of the recovery kinetics fit any simple models. There is evidence that the two lowest-temperature recovery stages involve the annihilation of close interstitialvacancy pairs and that interactions of primary defects with impurities do not occur. However, the first-order kinetics expected for close- pair recovery is not explicitly observed. A possible explanation for the observed kinetics, involving the independent annihilation of two types of close- pair configurations in the same stage with an electrostatic interaction between the interstitial and vacancy, is proposed. (auth)