Formation of Sb nanocrystals in SiO2 film using ion implantation followed by thermal annealing

In this letter we report on the fabrication of Sb nanocrystals in SiO2 film, for the first time, These nanocrystals were fabricated by ion implantation followed by thermal annealing. We confirmed their formation in SiO2 via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The size and depth of nanocrystals in him can be controlled by changing the implantation dose and energy. This fabrication method is completely compatible with large-scale integrated (LSI) device fabrication. Thus, it opens up the feasibility of using metal nanocrystals for creating new devices such as high-temperature single-electron devices.