INFLUENCE OF PULSED-LASER ANNEALING ON RARE-EARTH IMPLANTED LUMINESCENCE

Sapphire (Al2O3) and silica samples have been implanted with 400 keV E u ions at fluences up to 1 X 10(16) ions . cm(-2). After the samples i mplanted with Eu ions had been annealed with pulsed excimer lasers it was found that cathodoluminescence (CL) emission intensity of the impl anted europium ions was considerably enhanced (i.e. by factors of up t o 100 for sapphire and silica at the dose of 1 X 10(16) ions . cm(-2)) . Results from furnace annealing of Eu implanted samples, followed by pulsed excimer laser annealing are compared, and the future potential of the method is discussed. The lifetimes range from 6 to about 16 ms and from 0.14 to 1.6 ms for the silica and sapphire samples, respectiv ely, depending on annealing treatment and Eu concentration. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) did not show measurable diffusion f or the implanted ions.