Epitaxial recrystallization of Rb-irradiated α-quartz during thermal annealing in air

TLDR: In this article, solid phase epitaxial regrowth of the amorphized layer in α-quartz induced by Rb ion implantations has been studied by thermal annealing in air at 800-1200 K.

Abstract: Solid phase epitaxial regrowth of the amorphized layer in α-quartz induced by Rb ion implantations has been studied by thermal annealing in air at 800–1200 K The Rb+ ions were implanted at 175 keV to fluences of 10×1016–34×1016 ions/cm2 The damage profiles and Rb depth distributions were measured by Rutherford backscattering and channeling spectroscopy Complete epitaxial recrystallization was achieved for the samples implanted with 25×1016 Rb/cm2 after a 1 h annealing in air at 1173 K The regrowth process occurs in two steps and has activation energies of EaL=06±01 and EaH=36±04 eV The recrystallization rate was found to increase for increasing implanted Rb fluence The results are discussed by considering the topological structures and network connectivity of SiO2