ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY, ELECTRONIC AND VIBRATIONAL SPECTROSCOPY OF AU COLLOIDS FORMED BY ION-IMPLANTATION IN MUSCOVITE MICA

Au was implanted into the (001) surface of muscovite mica at an energy of 1.1 MeV and at doses of 1, 3, 6, and 10 X 10(16) ions/cm(2). Absor ption spectra of the as-implanted samples revealed a peak at 2.28 eV ( 545 nm) which is attributed to the surface plasmon resonance of Au col loids. The infrared reflectance measurements show a decreasing reflect ivity with increasing ion dose in the Si-O stretching region (900-1200 cm(-1)). A new peak is observed at 967 cm(-1) increases with the ion dose and is attributed to a Si-O dangling bond. Atomic force microscop y images of freshly cleaved samples implanted with 6 and 10 X 10(16) i ons/cm(2) indicated metal colloids with diameters between 0.9-1.5 nm. AFM images of the annealed samples showed irregularly shaped structure s with a topology that results from the fusion of smaller colloids.