Depth-dependent phase change in Gd2O3 epitaxial layers under ion irradiation

Abstract

Epitaxial Gd2O3 thin layers with the cubic structure were irradiated with 4-MeV Au2+ ions in the 1013–1015 cm−2 fluence range. X-ray diffraction indicates that ion irradiation induces a cubic to monoclinic phase change. Strikingly, although the energy-deposition profile of the Au2+ ions is constant over the layer thickness, this phase transformation is depth-dependent, as revealed by a combined X-ray diffraction and ion channeling analysis. In fact, the transition initiates very close to the surface and propagates inwards, which can be explained by an assisted migration process of irradiation-induced defects. This result is promising for developing a method to control the thickness of the rare-earth oxide crystalline phases.