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arXiv · 1510.00106

Electronic structure and photoluminescence properties of Zn-ion implanted silica glass before and after thermal annealing

D. A. Zatsepin·A. F. Zatsepin·D. W. Boukhvalov·E. Z. Kurmaev·Z. V. Pchelkina·N. V. Gavrilov
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Abstract

The results of XPS core-level and valence band measurements, photoluminescence spectra of a-SiO2 implanted by Zn-ions (E=30 keV, D=1*1017 cm^-2) and Density Functional Theory calculations of electronic structure as well as formation energies of structural defects in silica glass induced by Zn-ion implantation are presented. Both theory and experiment show that it is energetically more favorable for implanted zinc ions to occupy the interstitial positions instead of cation substitution. As a result, the Zn-ions embedded to interstitials, form chemical bonds with the surrounding oxygen atoms, formation ZnO-like nanoparticles and oxygen-deficient SiOx matrix. The subsequent thermal annealing at 900 0C (1 hr) strongly reduces the amount of ZnO nanoparticles and induces the formation of α-Zn2SiO4 phase which markedly enhances the green emission.

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D. A. Zatsepin, A. F. Zatsepin, D. W. Boukhvalov, E. Z. Kurmaev, Z. V. Pchelkina, N. V. Gavrilov. 2015-10-01. Electronic structure and photoluminescence properties of Zn-ion implanted silica glass before and after thermal annealing. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2015.10.002

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