【International Papers】Structure and Chemical Composition of Ion-Synthesized Gallium Oxide Nanocrystals in Dielectric Matrices

      A research team from the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod have published a dissertation titled "Structure and Chemical Composition of Ion-Synthesized Gallium Oxide Nanocrystals in Dielectric Matrices" in the scientific journal MDPI.

Abstract

      The ion-beam synthesis of Ga₂O₃ nanocrystals in dielectric matrices on silicon is a novel and promising way for creating nanomaterials based on gallium oxide. This research studies the regularities of changes, depending on the synthesis regimes used, in the chemical composition of ion-implanted SiO₂/Si and Al₂O₃/Si samples. It has been shown that the formation of Ga-O chemical bonds occurs even in the absence of thermal annealing. We also found the conditions of ion irradiation and annealing at which the content of oxidized gallium in the stochiometric state of Ga₂O₃ exceeds 90%. For this structure, the formation of Ga₂O₃ nanocrystalline inclusions was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy.

Paper Link：https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13101658

Figure 1. Scheme of the used variants for the ion-beam synthesis of nc-Ga₂O₃.

Figure 2. SRIM-calculated distribution of implanted gallium and oxygen ions: (a) for SiO₂/Si structures; (b) for Al₂O₃/Si structures.

Figure 3. Distribution profile of gallium (dashed line), as well as gallium in various chemical states (Ga0, Ga₂O₃, Ga₂O, colored lines), over depth for different variants of the implantation order for the SiO₂/Si samples: (a–c) before annealing; (d–f) after annealing at a temperature of 900 °C in an N₂ atmosphere; and (g) for the O+ → Ga+ implantation order after annealing at 900 °C in an O₂ atmosphere.