Structure Formation and Regulation of Au Nanoparticles in LiTaO<sub>3</sub> by Ion Beam and Thermal Annealing Techniques
Yong Liu,
Xinqing Han,
Jinhua Zhao,
Jian Sun,
Qing Huang,
Xuelin Wang,
Peng Liu
Affiliations
Yong Liu
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Xinqing Han
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Jinhua Zhao
School of Science, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan 250101, China
Jian Sun
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Qing Huang
Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai 201800, China
Xuelin Wang
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
Peng Liu
Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science and Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
The size uniformity and spatial dispersion of nanoparticles (NPs) formed by ion implantation must be further improved due to the characteristics of the ion implantation method. Therefore, specific swift heavy ion irradiation and thermal annealing are combined in this work to regulate the size and spatial distributions of embedded Au NPs formed within LiTaO3 crystals. Experimental results show that small NPs migrate to deeper depths induced by 656 MeV Xe35+ ion irradiation. During thermal annealing, the growth of large Au NPs is limited due to the reductions in the number of small Au NPs, and the migrated Au NPs aggregate at deeper depths, resulting in a more uniform size distribution and an increased spatial distribution of Au NPs. The present work presents a novel method to modify the size and spatial distributions of embedded NPs.
