An Ideal System for Analysis and Interpretation of Ion Beam Induced Luminescence

Abstract

Luminescence is produced during ion beam implantation or ion-solid interaction for most insulators, and contains rich information. Surprisingly, the information extracted is often far from optimum. Rather than summarizing literature work, the focus here is to design an optimized and feasible target chamber that could offer far more information than what has currently been obtained. Such an improved and multi-probe approach opens a range of options to simultaneously record luminescence spectra generated by the ion beam, explore transient and excited state signals via probes of secondary excitation methods (such as ionisation or photo-stimulation). In addition, one may monitor optical absorption, reflectivity and lifetime dependent features, plus stress and polarization factors. A particularly valuable addition to conventional measurements is to have the ability to modulate both the ion beam and the probes. These features allow separation of transient lifetimes, as well as sensing intermediate steps in the defect formation and/or relaxation, and growth of new phases and nanoparticle inclusions. While luminescence methods are the most sensitive probes of defect and imperfection sites in optically active materials, less work has been performed at controlled low and high temperatures. Measurement with controlled cooling or heating of the samples is effective to reveal phase transitions (both of host and inclusions). Furthermore, simultaneous excitations (e.g. ions and photons) at different temperatures may lead to different end-phase or stale structure under extreme ionization conditions and enable fabrication of unique material structures. References to the existing literature will underline that the overall benefits of studying ion beam induced luminescence can be far more fruitful than that has normally been considered.

Recent Advances on Carrier and Exciton Self-Trapping in Strontium Titanate: Understanding the Luminescence Emissions

“…Fortunately, reliable electrostatic accelerators in the MV range are now dedicated to this topic [44,45]. The proper choice of ions with different masses and energies allows controlling the relative strength of electronic excitation and atomic collision processes, as well as the penetration depth of the excitation and structural damage [46][47][48]. As an example, a diagram of the installation available in the Ion Beam Materials Laboratory (IBML) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA [45,49,50] is shown in Figure 2.…”

“…The experiments [9] have used a variety of ion beams and energies to tailor the electronic excitation rate and introduce controlled amounts of lattice defects, mainly oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, the penetration depth can be varied from less than one micron to tens of microns, so that surface effects can be minimized, in contrast to low energy cathodoluminescence (CL) or UV light excitation [46][47][48]. The initial rate for the yield of the luminescence emission, was linearly correlated with the rate of oxygen vacancy generation calculated through SRIM 2012 simulations [63,64], as depicted in Figure 7.…”

In-situ luminescence monitoring of ion-induced damage evolution in SiO2 and Al2O3

“…IBIL is complimentary to other ion beam analysis (IBA) techniques such as Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE), as it describes defect structures in insulators and semiconductors that are invisible to RBS or PIXE [17]. However, IBIL is far less used than other IBA techniques because the analysis of the data generally requires additional information from electronic structure calculations or from measurements using other optical techniques, such as optical absorption and photoluminescence, in order to obtain physically meaningful information [18]. Other luminescence methods involve excitation with photons (PL), X-rays (RL), and electrons (CL).…”

Sn-loss effect in a Sn-implanted a-SiO2 host-matrix after thermal annealing: A combined XPS, PL, and DFT study

“…Ion-implantation is a powerful technique for controllably managing embedded dopant concentration in a doped material [1][2], fabrication of non-stoichiometric defects that are typically employed in luminescing electronic devices [3], and selective modification of the surface and near surface layers of a host-material that dramatically re-builds the chemical properties of the inorganic material [4][5]. Although this technological method is relatively wellstudied, developed and applied, the minority of unsolved problems still remains.…”