Surface smoothening and compaction of silica glass under dynamic negative ion mixing

Abstract

A dynamic mixing method has been developed to fabricate thick insulator films containing metal nanoparticles. The fabrication process consists of negative ion mixing/implantation and vacuum deposition of the matrix material. Negative Cu ions of 60 keV irradiated a silica substrate at a dose rate 5–30 μA/cm 2 and a simultaneous evaporation of silica glass, at an evaporation rate 0.2–0.4 nm/s, produced thick films up to 500 nm. The surface of the samples was greatly smoothened by the dynamic negative-ion mixing (DNIM) method, as compared to that of evaporated films without ion irradiation. The frequency of the Si–O–Si stretching vibration mode of the DNIM samples became smaller than that of the silica glass substrates. Optical absorbance of the samples, particularly around Cu plasmon resonance, was significantly dependent on the Cu dose rate. The results indicate that the ion co-irradiation induces not only surface smoothening but also a compact network of the SiO 2 matrix.