Monitoring the formation of Sb nanocrystals in SiO2 by grazing incidence x-ray techniques

We investigate the formation, crystallinity, size, and depth distribution of Sb nanoclusters in thin SiO2 matrix by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction ~GIXRD! and reflectivity ~GIXRR!. The complementarity of these two techniques reveals the formation of Sb nanocrystals after a rapid thermal treatment at 1000 °C and their depth distribution. The implantation profile is found to have its maximum centered in the middle of the SiO2 layer. After thermal treatment, the Sb atom redistribution, monitored by the variation in the electron density profile obtained by GIXRR, corresponds to the formation of metallic Sb nanoclusters, as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy ~TEM! and GIXRD. The cluster distribution within the SiO2 layer presents a maximum at the center of the layer and their average diameter is 6763 Å. The results are in agreement with TEM analyses.