Effect of Ag Ion Implantation on SPR of Cu-C-60 Nanocomposite Thin Film

u-C-60 nanocomposite thin films are synthesized by co-deposition restive heating method on glass, silicon, and TEM grid substrates. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) analysis is used for determining the composition of Cu and thickness of thin film which one found to be similar to 13 at% and similar to 28 nm, respectively. The deposited thin films are irradiated with 100 keV Ag ion at different fluences ranging from 1 x 10(14) to 3 x 10(16) ions/cm(2). Being of low energy, Ag ions got implanted in SiO2 substrate up to a depth of 30-40 nm that results in wide surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band in combination with SPR of Cu nanoparticles. UV-visible absorption spectroscopy demonstrates the SPR peak arises due to copper nanoparticles embedded in fullerene C-60 matrix on irradiation of nanocomposite thin film and its variation under implantation of Ag nanoparticles in SiO2 substrate. Structural modifications due to ion irradiation are analyzed by Raman and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Raman spectroscopy study reveals the transformation of fullerene C-60 into amorphous carbon (a-C) with increasing fluence. Variation in particle distribution is observed under TEM. The average particle sizes are found to be similar to 4 +/- 0.7 and similar to 6 +/- 0.4 nm for pristine and 100 keV Ag ion-irradiated thin films, respectively. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirms the increase in grain size with increase in roughness of nanocomposite thin films under the effect of implantation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirms the presence of Cu and C from their chemical bonding in Cu-C-60 nanocomposite thin films