Effect of Post-Implantation Heat Treatment Conditions on Photoluminescent Properties of Ion-Synthesized Gallium Oxide Nanocrystals

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 14; no. 10; p. 870
• Main Authors: Korolev, Dmitry S, Matyunina, Kristina S, Nikolskaya, Alena A, Belov, Alexey I, Mikhaylov, Alexey N, Sushkov, Artem A, Pavlov, Dmitry A, Tetelbaum, David I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 17.05.2024
• Subjects: Analysis; Annealing; Atmosphere; Chemical synthesis; Crystals; Electron microscopy; Excitation spectra; Gallium; Gallium compounds; gallium oxide; Gallium oxides; Heat treatment; Heat treatments; High resolution electron microscopy; Ion implantation; Ion irradiation; ion synthesis; Irradiation; Luminescence; Nanocrystals; Nanomaterials; Nanotechnology; Nitrogen; Optical properties; Oxides; Oxidizing atmospheres; Photoluminescence; Photons; Radiation; Radiative recombination; Recombination; Silicon dioxide; Size effects; Spectroscopy; Temperature; thermal annealing; Transmission electron microscopy; Russia; ion synthesis; gallium oxide; thermal annealing; photoluminescence; ion implantation; nanocrystals
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano14100870

A novel and promising way for creating nanomaterials based on gallium oxide is the ion synthesis of Ga O nanocrystals in a SiO /Si dielectric matrix. The properties of nanocrystals are determined by the conditions of ion synthesis-the parameters of ion irradiation and post-implantation heat treatment. In this work, the light-emitting properties of Ga O nanocrystals were studied depending on the temperature and annealing atmosphere. It was found that annealing at a temperature of 900 °C leads to the appearance of intense luminescence with a maximum at ~480 nm caused by the recombination of donor-acceptor pairs. An increase in luminescence intensity upon annealing in an oxidizing atmosphere is shown. Based on data from photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, a hypothesis about the possibility of the participation of a quantum-size effect during radiative recombination is proposed. A mechanism for the formation of Ga O nanocrystals during ion synthesis is suggested, which makes it possible to describe the change in the luminescent properties of the synthesized samples with varying conditions of post-implantation heat treatment.