DAMAGE AND THERMAL ANNEALING OF IN-AXIS SAPPHIRE( IMPLANTED A)

Single crystal samples of [<1(2)over bar 10>]alpha-Al2O3 were implante d with 100 keV and 360 keV indium ions to doses of 6 x 10(16) ions/cm( 2), 1 x 10(16) ions/cm(2), and 3 x 10(16) ions/cm(2), respectively, at room temperature (RT). The implanted samples were annealed isothermal ly in high purity argon ambient at 900 degrees C, from 2 to 24 h. Ruth erford Backscattering Spectrometry and Channelling (RBS-C) and Reflect ion High Energy Electron Diffraction (RHEED) have been used to study t he depth distributions of lattice damage and impurity, as well as the annealing behavior. All three as-implanted samples do not show an amor phous layer, which indicated that the self-annealing is severe during In ion implantation of alpha-Al2O3 at RT. For the 100 keV ion implante d samples, In loss and formation of In2O3 were observed after 12 h ann ealing. The In ions are completely located in the interstitial sites f or all samples annealed at 900 degrees C for 12 h. For the higher ener gy (360 keV) implantation, single crystal is retained at the outermost surface in the as-implanted sample.