Generation of Si nanocrystals by ion implantation utilizing a LIS device

A newly developed 'implantation machine' was used to accelerate ions. Recently, the ability of composite materials containing silicon nanocrystals in SiO2 to emit in the visible region has become very attractive due to their potential applications. It has been studied that nanocrystals can be fabricated by a variety of methods, including even the ion implantation treatment followed by high-temperature annealing. We developed a laser ablation-induced plasma as ion source, which consists in an excimer laser of 248 nm and 20 ns. The success of the developed device was reached inserting a removable expansion chamber that allowed an initial free expansion of the plasma before the ion extraction reducing the probability of arcs during the acceleration. The target support is a stem mounted on an insulating flange and kept to positive high voltage. In this work, we present the preliminary experimental results of 40 keV energy implantation of Si ions into SiO2 films and the GAXRD analysis before and after 1000 degrees C annealing.