Behavior of Implanted α-Al2O3 in an Oxidizing Annealing Environment

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe transition metal ions Fe, Mn, Ni, Ti, and Cr as well as the group III-A ion Ga were implanted in a random direction close to the c-axis of α-Al2O3 single crystals. These were subsequently annealed in flowing oxygen at temperatures between 600 and 1500°C. The impurity and damage distributions were determined by He backscattering and channeling techniques. The normally trivalent ions, Fe, Ga, and Cr show strong tendency to become incorporated into substitutional sites, whereas the normally divalent ions, Cu and Mn show no such tendency, even at high temperatures. Most of the impurities tend to move toward the surface with only Fe, Ga, and Cr showing tendency towards bulk diffusion. In all cases the Al sublattice recovers at lower temperatures than the oxygen sublattice.