Influence of Oxygen Ion Implantation on the Damage and Annealing Kinetics of Iron-Implanted Sapphire

The effects of implanted oxygen on the damage accumulation in sapphire which was previously implanted with iron was studied for (0001) sapphire implanted with iron and then with oxygen. The energies were chosen to give similar projected ranges. One series was implanted with a 1:l ratio (4x10{sup 16} ions/cm{sup 2} each) and another with a ratio of 2:3 (4x10{sup 16} fe{sup +}/cm{sup 2}; 6x10{sup 16} O{sup +}/cm{sup 2}). Retained damage, X, in the Al-sublattice, was compared to that produced by implantation of iron alone. The observed disorder was less for the dual implantations suggesting that implantation of oxygen enhanced dynamic recovery during implantation. Samples were annealed for one hour at 800 and 1200 C in an oxidizing and in a reducing atmosphere. No difference was found in the kinetics of recovery in the Al-sublattice between the two dual implant conditions. However, the rate of recovery was different for each from samples implanted with iron alone