The Long-term Stability of Embedded Aluminum Nanoparticles in Glass

Reference	Presenter	Authors (Institution)	Abstract
09-123	Janet Callahan	Callahan, J.(Boise State University);	Interest in embedded metal particles in dielectric materials arises from their nonlinear optical properties, which has potential application in opto-electronic systems. One method that has been investigated to form embedded nano-sized particles in dielectric materials is ion implantation. For example, Au nanoparticles form when ion implanting Au ions into sapphire. The Au ions come to rest within the near surface region, and cluster into nanoparticles of gold. However, when a reactive element, such as yttrium is implanted into sapphire, aluminum nanoparticles form as a result of a reduction reaction of yttrium with Al2O3 as predicted by Gibbs free energy.[1] This paper reports on the long-term (30 year) kinetic stability of Al nanoparticles formed through the ion implantation of 5 x 10E16 Y+/cm2 at 150keV into single-crystalline R-plane sapphire (Al2O3). The particles thus formed reside in an amorphous surface layer that is 110 nm thick. Using the 15eV plasmon loss peak from aluminum, energy filtered transmission electron microscopy was used to image the ion-implanted region in cross-section. The particles are found to be distributed within the middle third of this layer (between approximately 40 and 90 nm, +/- 3 nm), and range in size between approximately 4 nm and 11 nm +/- 1nm. The fcc nano-particles are crystalline, confirmed through high resolution transmission electron microscopy. No evident changes in morphology of the nanoparticles, or the amorphized surface region resulted through 30 years of sample storage at room temperature. [1] Hunt, E.M. and Hampikian, J.M. (1999) Ion implantation-induced nanoscale particle formation in Al2O3 and SiO2 via Reduction, Acta Materialia 47 (5) 1497-1511. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1359-6454(99)00028-2.
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