Swift heavy ion irradiation induced luminescence from C-doped SiO2 films

In the present work, a novel technique, "low energy ion implantation + high-energy heavy ion irradiation", was used to synthesis light-emitting material. Experimentally, thermal-grown SiO2 films were firstly implanted with 120 keV C+ ions at room temperature (RT) to total doses in the range of (5.0 x 10(16)-1.0 x 10(18)) ionS/cm(2). These C-doped SiO2 films were then irradiated at RT with 335 and 855 MeV Ar-40 or 1.98 GeV Kr-84 ions to a fluence of 1.0 x 10(12) ionS/cm(2), or with 1.75 GeV Xe-136 ions to 1 x 10(11), 5 x 10(11) or 1 x 10(12) ionS/cm(2), respectively. By measuring photoluminescence (PL) spectra of these samples excited by 320 nm light, the PL bands were investigated as functions of implantation ion dose, irradiation ion fluence and electronic energy loss S,. It was found that this technique is a useful tool to produce high quality light-emission structures, and that high-energy heavy ion irradiated C-doped SiO2 films should be an efficient blue-violet emitting material. Furthermore, S, plays a dominant role in the formation of the PL bands, and proper C-dopant and suitable irradiation fluence will enhance the PL efficiency. Possible origins of the blue-violet PL bands formed in the ion irradiated C-doped SiO2 films were discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.