Change in optical properties of sapphire substrates by co-implantation of high-energy Zn and O ions

Ion implantation technique is a convenient way to form nano-particles into host materials. Moreover, there is a possibility to form oxide compound nano-particles by way of co-implantation of metal and oxygen ions. However, there are few reports on the formation of metal oxide nano-particles by way of co-implantation. On the other hand, ZnO is a semiconductor materials with wide and direct band gap, and their nano-crystals have attracted much attention because they could be applicable for optical devices showing blue luminescence. Moreover, it is known that ZnO films can be grown epitaxially on sapphire substrates. By analogy, it is presumably considered that ZnO nano-particles are also grown with orientation relation of sapphire substrates. The aim of this study is to form ZnO nano-particles by way of coimplantation of Zn and O ions into host materials. In this experiments, for the first attempt, Zn and O ions were co-implanted into sapphire substrates, and the change in their optical properties were examined.