CHARACTERIZATION OF THE NEAR-SURFACE REGION OF GLASS IMPLANTED WITH LIGHT-ELEMENTS

Ion-implantation of glasses modifies physical properties such as density, refractive index, surface stress, hardness, and chemical durability. Compositional changes can also occur due, e.g., to radiation-enhanced diffusional losses of alkali ions, crystallization, phase separation, and H incursion. Quantitative depth-profiling of the implanted ion distributions and changes in elemental constituent concentrations can be accomplished by means of ion-beam analysis. Elastic recoil detection (ERD) is used for light elements (H to N) while Rutherford backscattering (RBS) is utilized for larger masses. Chemical information from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) supplements the compositional information obtained from ERD and RBS to supply detailed data about the surface region or in-depth after sputter etching. These techniques, have been utilized, in combination with optical spectroscopy, to study the effects of ion-implanted H, Li, B, N, O, and Si on fused silica. Evidence has been obtained for the chemical incorporation of these elements in the silica network. The results allow deeper understanding of the relationship of structure to implant incorporations, as is important for the application of ion implantation wave guide formation in optoelectronic applications. © 1990.