Post-implantation bombardment assisted formation of colloidal Au in silica

In this work. we demonstrate that by post-implantation bombardment of 2.0 MeV Au-implanted suprasil by MeV heavy ions such as silicon, one can assist the formation of Au nanoclusters. We will also demonstrate the relationship between the energy deposited in electronic excitations by the MeV Si ions in the Au-implanted layer with the size of these nanoclusters as well as with the optical absorption band due to formation of Au nanoclusters. The optical absorption band characteristic of the Au-implanted suprasil as well as the TEM results were used to monitor the formation of the metallic clusters before and after post-implantation bombardment. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.