HIGH-TEMPERATURE SILVER ION-IMPLANTATION INTO GLASS

Soda-lime-silicate glass has been implanted with 55 keV Ag+ ions at five different temperatures: room temperature, 100, 225, 350 and 600-degrees-C. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy was used to provide depth profiles for the implants. All samples show a low retention of silver and this varies with temperature. In the room temperature and 100-degrees-C implants the silver diffuses to, and is lost from the surface. This also occurs in the higher temperature implants, but in these cases there is a significant amount of inward diffusion by the silver. This diffusion extends to at least 500 nm: greatly in excess of the predicted range for a standard implant. Optical measurements on the samples show that those with the inward diffusion have formed an enhanced-index waveguide.