The effect of zirconium implantation on the structure of sapphire

Y. Sina a , C. J. McHargue a,b , G. Duscher a,c, Y. Zhang a,c

(a) Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-2200 (b) Center for Materials Processing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-0750 (c) Materials Science and Technology Division, ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN 37831

OBJECTIVE
Determination of how implantation of zirconium into sapphire produces an amorphous phase

STEM Z-contrast images confirm 3 regions with no coherent diffraction in layer 30 to 81.5 nm from surface (a) High Angle Annular Dark Field (b) Bright Field, (c, d, e) FFT from the three regions (II) The random scattering region has Short-Range-Order similar to that of -Al2O3 and is deficient in oxygen The Al-L EELS spectra indicate bulk-like -Al2O3 in the damaged but crystalline regions and -Al2O3-like short-rangeorder in the amorphous region

THIS STUDY
Conduct a detailed characterization of Zr-implanted sapphire

BACKGROUND
Previous studies have suggested that implantation of zirconium into sapphire produces an amorphous structure at concentration and/or damage energy deposition lower than ions of similar atomic mass.

EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
MATERIAL
High- purity single crystal -Al2O3; c-axis normal; optical polish (Crystal Systems, Salem MA)

IMPLANTATION 4x1016 Zr+/cm2 ; 175 keV; Room Temperature; 7 off-normal CHARACTERIZATION

Rutherford Back Scattering- Channeling (RBS-C); 2 MeV He+ Z- contrast imaging in aberration-corrected STEM Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (ELLS) EELS Al-L spectra from (a) bulk region, (b) near surface damaged and deeper damaged regions, and (c) amorphous region The O-K EELS spectra indicate some oxygendeficiency in the amorphous region

RESULTS
(I) A subsurface amorphous layer surrounded by two damaged, crystalline regions is produced.

RBS-C shows random scattering in subsurface region of an aligned crystal

EELS O-K spectra from (a) bulk- like region, (b) amorphous region RBS-ion channeling using 2 MeV He+ from <0001> oriented Al2O3 implanted with 41016Zr+/cm2 (175 keV) at 25 C HAADF images shows random region surrounded by two damaged, crystalline regions The amorphous region contains nearly spherical clusters of Zr

CONCLUSIONS
Zirconium implantation (175 keV) into -Al2O3 produced a buried amorphous region at fluence of 41016 Zr+/cm2 at room temperature. The amorphous region contains short-range order similar to the -Al2O3 phase with oxygen deficiency and Zr rich clusters. The calculated results of SRIM, RBS, and STEM have good agreement with each other.

REFERENCES
[1] C. J. McHargue, G. C. Farlow, et al., Materials Science and Engineering, 69 (1985) 123-127. [2] C. W. White, C. J. McHargue, et al., Materials Science Reports, Ion Implantation and Annealing of Crystalline Oxides, Vol.4, No 2, (1989). [3] S.J. Zinkle ,et al., Defect Production in Ceramics, Journal of Nuclear Materials 251 (1997) 200-217. [4] R. Brydson, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 29 (1996) 16991708.

High Angle Annular Dark Field image of -Al2O3 implanted with Zr ions

HAADF from amorphous region