Investigation of Chemomechanical Effects on Sapphire Surfaces Modified by Ion-Implantation-Induced Carbon Impurities

Modification of the chemomechanical behaviour of the surface of sapphire by ion implantation to improve its near-surface mechanical properties has been investigated. 300 keV Ti+ ions at various doses were implanted and the concentration and damage profiles characterised using Rutherford Backscattering (RBS). At high doses (≥ 3 × 1016 Ti+ cm−2), a surface amorphous layer is formed due to implantation-induced damage. Nanoindentation was used to determine the hardness behaviour of the ion-implanted layer. Hardness increases at low implantation doses, associated with implantation-induced damage, but it is also observed that chemomechanical softening of the surface is reduced due to the removal of adsorbed water. In situ Raman scattering measurements demonstrate this removal at low doses and the re-establishment of the adsorbed water layer at high doses. The adsorption process is changed due to the introduction of carbon into the sapphire surface during implantation. For the optimum-implanted dose, the water readsorption does not recur even several years after the implantation treatment was first carried out. The loss of water adsorption is related to the formation of a non-polar carbonaceous layer on the sapphire surface by cracking of back-streamed diffusion pump oil deposited on the sample surface by inelastic collisions with the ion beam. Based on this study, it is concluded that ion implantation with an appropriate ion species and dose can control the chemomechanical effect and improve the hardness of ceramics, such as sapphire.

Luminescent analysis etching processes of sapphire with gold nanocrystals in electronbeam

The presented work considers the possibility of studying the processes of radiation-induced ki-netics restructuring of the sapphire surface with gold nanocrystals using the time dependence intensity of cathodoluminescence spectra. It was shown that the main of color centers in the UV region of the spectrum of cathodoluminescence of sapphire are F+centers, and the F-band is suppressed. The study of the time dependence of the intensity of F+centers confirms the ab-sence of the surface melting stage of sapphire during irradiation with a beam of electrons with an accelerating voltage of 50 keV. The small line widening value Cr3+ corresponds to minor temperature devi-ations on the sapphire surface during electronic irradiation. A qualitative model describing etching of sapphire sur-face with gold nanocrystals during electron action is proposed. The model considered is based on radiation-induced Auger decay of sapphire and formation of intermetallic phases in the process of the exothermic reaction in the Au-Al sys-tem