Anisotropy effects on the formation of new phases in α-Al2O3 by high fluence Zn implantation

Abstract

The synthesis of embedded nanoparticles in sapphire was achieved through high fluence Zn ion implantation at room temperature, followed by furnace annealing in vacuum. Sapphire single crystals with different orientations (c- and m-cut samples), were implanted and subsequently subjected to post-implantation thermal treatments to grow the nanoparticles. The anisotropy of α-Al2O3 influences the amount of defects produced through implantation and allows fast diffusion along c-planes which determines the nature and morphology of the systems formed. The structural characterization of the new structures was performed with Rutherford backscattering/channelling (RBS-C) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The optical properties were studied with optical absorption (OA) in the zinc surface plasmon resonance (SPR) region.