A comparison of SIMS and RBS for the depth profiling of silica glasses implanted by metal ions

Ion implantation of metal ions followed by annealing can be used for the formation of buried layers of metal nanoparticles in glasses with optical properties for perspective photonic materials. Results are presented from three samples of silica glasses implanted with Cu+, Ag+ or Au+ ions under the same conditions (energy 330 keV and fluence 1×10^16 ions/cm2) and three silica glass samples implanted with the same metals and conditions but coimplanted subsequently by oxygen into the same depth. All the implanted glasses were annealed at 600°C, which lead to forming of metal nanoparticles. The depth profiles measured by RBS and SIMS indicated that the sequential implantation of oxygen followed by post-annealing caused the shift of Cu, Ag and Au aggregated into nanoparticles deeper into the glass substrate. Both RBS and SIMS are shown to be valuable complementary techniques.