Abstract
Coherently, embedded metal nanostructures (endotaxial) are known to have potential applications concerning the areas of plasmonics, optoelectronics and thermoelectronics. Incorporating appropriate concentrations of metal atoms into crystalline silicon is critical for these applications. Therefore, choosing proper dose of low-energy ions, instead of depositing thin film as a source of metal atoms, helps in avoiding surplus concentration of metal atoms that diffuses into the silicon crystal. In this work, 30 keV silver negative ions are implanted into a SiO x /Si(100) at two different fluences: 1 × 1015 and 2.5 × 1015 Ag− ions/cm2. Later, the samples are annealed at 700 °C for 1 h in Ar atmosphere. Embedded silver nanostructures have been characterized using planar and cross-sectional TEM (XTEM) analysis. Planar TEM analysis shows the formation of mostly rectangular silver nanostructures following the fourfold symmetry of the substrate. XTEM analysis confirms the formation of prism-shaped silver nanostructures embedded inside crystalline silicon. Endotaxial nature of the embedded crystals has been discussed using selected area electron diffraction analysis.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by UGC-DAE CSR, KC Collaborative Research Project (UGC-DAE-CSR-KC/CRS/15/IOP/MS/01/0669/0670/0755). P. V. Satyam would like to thank 12th plan DAE project at Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar. We thank staff at Ion Beam Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, for helping in low-energy implantation experiments.
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Nagarajappa, K., Guha, P., Thirumurugan, A. et al. Low-energy ion beam synthesis of Ag endotaxial nanostructures in silicon. Appl. Phys. A 124, 402 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-1815-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-1815-y