Lebanese American University

Ion Implantation

H. Harake*, M. Karaki*, K. Israwi*

Lebanese American University, Byblos, Lebanon

ABSTRACT

Ion implantation is a low temperature process in which ions are accelerated on a solid
target thus changing the properties of the target, and thus imparting wear resistance.
This paper will review the surface characteristics on diamond, as well as the advantages
and disadvantages of ion implantation. Also, experiments done on different types of
ceramics using MEVVA.
2020 LAU

useful in cases where the chemical or structural change is

Ion implantation is a process that uses low preferred to be near the surface of the target.
temperature in which ions are accelerated into a solid target
from a certain element, thus changing the properties of the Ion implantation is not a surface coating process, it
target whether it be physical, chemical, or electrical. There is a technique
are several uses but it is mostly used in semiconductor which
device fabrication, as well as metal finishing and materials implants ions
science research. The target’s elemental composition can be of nitrogen or
changed by the ions if the ions which have a different carbon below
composition than that of the target stop and remain located the substrate
in the target. Meanwhile, if the ions impinge on the target at surface and
a high energy then we notice physical and chemical into the matrix
changes. If the ions have a sufficiently high energy, then it of the
can cause nuclear transmutation. Several equipment is substrate
required for the ion implantation process. Typically, there is material.
an ion source, in which ions of the desired element are Implantation
produced. An accelerator is also needed for ions to be depths range from about 0.1 to 0.3µm. It is analogous to
accelerated electrostatically to a high energy. Finally, a diffusion processes such as carburizing or nitriding but
target chamber is used for ions to impinge on a target and requires a much lower substrate temperature of about
thus implanting on the target’s material. Ion implantation is 200°C. Ion dosage varies from 1015 to
applied in cases where a small chemical change is required 1018 ions/cm2 dependent on ion species, component material
since the currents supplied by implants are usually small and property requirements. It also has the advantage of
and thus the dose which is implanted is also small in a being able to implant ions which would not normally
reasonable amount of time. The depth of penetration of ions diffuse or are insoluble in the substrate material. (Reference
in the solid is determined by the energy of the ions along 1)
with the ion species, and the targets composition. In ideal In this research we will consider the surface
circumstances, ion ranges will be between 10 nanometers characterization of ion implantation which include surface
and 1 micrometer. Therefore, ion implantation is mostly roughness, tool wear and drilling. Along with the
advantages and disadvantages. Ion implantation is an
effective tool for introducing single impurities into the
surface layer to a depth of several micrometers. The
properties depend on the material of the surface
modification as well as ion implantation. Which means here
that we are focusing on the parameters that include energy,
ion current density and target temperature. (Reference 2)
Ion implantation may be conventionally divided into low-
dose and high-dose implantation. (Check the below figure).
Furthermore, Xenon is a heavy colorless chemical which is
inactive and is used in diamond ion implantation (Reference
8). Xenon impurities can couple with a vacancy in the
diamond lattice to form a stable defect as mentioned above
for the impurities (Reference 6). The hillock formation
mechanism is related to structural transitions due the large
amounts of energy (Reference 9). Now these transitions
reduce the track density as well (Reference 10).
Surface characteristics are attributes of the outer boundaries
of the object including its molecules. Examples on them
would be capillary action, surface tension and wettability.
Moreover, profiling, hardness and microscopy are included
in the surface characterization category. Our main concern
here in ion implantation is surface roughness. When
creating a surface, the imperfections and irregularities are
bound to happen. The manufactured surface always departs
in the form of succession of hills and valleys carrying in
height and spacing. These irregularities are usually named
as surface roughness, surface finish and even surface
quality. These irregularities are responsible to a great extent
for the appearance of a surface of a component and its
suitability for an intended application.
Now our main focus is ion implantation in using diamonds.
When using diamond in ion implantation most people lack
the considering of the disadvantages and what we mean by
that is the amount of damage it might cause to the part
(Reference 3). In addition, that kind of damage is caused by
the temperature during implantation and that damage is
usually called by nature of damage (Reference 3).
Furthermore, we have two types of ion implantation when
considering diamonds which means we have the G-type
which was achieved by Boron ion implantation followed by
a proper annealing procedure and this yielded a record in
high hole mobilities of 385 cm2/V.sec and lowest
compensation ratio of 0.05 ever reported for ion
implantation doped diamond (Reference 3.). Moreover, the
other type of diamond ion implantation is the P-type which
have electrical properties, it has been obtained by B ion
implantation of CVD (Highly textured and non-oriented
polycrystalline). Also, we have homoepitaxial diamond
which were grown on natural diamond substrates. Let us
start with explaining the meaning of homoepitaxial which is
a type of epitaxy in which a single-crystal layer is grown on
a substrate of the same material (Reference 5). Moving back
about natural diamond substrates, diamond ion implantation
influences diamond growth. For instance, in some cases
isotopic 13CH4 was in the deposition since it was used
isotopically labelled 13C-diamond. (Reference 5).
Experimental Setup:
For the experiments conducted, a MEVVA implanter was
used, which is a metal vapor vacuum arc. The MEVVA
implanter was developed during the 1980s at the Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory and it was applied in high-energy
physics at first, but during recent times, its field of
application has started expanding to modify materials’
surfaces. Mevva is used to produce plasma from which ion
sources are collected. The way the MEVVA ion source
works is, the ions which need to be extracted from the
plasma are created directly from the solid discharge
between two metallic electordes in vacuum by means of a
metal vapor arc. Cathode spots are formed on the cathode
surface, with the cathode spots being tiny regions of intense
current concentration, thus a prolific source of metal plasma
is formed and moves away from the cathode towards the
anode and remains as long as there is an arc current. The
ions are extracted from a medium formed by this
component of plasma. The plasma plume then moves
though the post-anode region to the set of grids that make
up the extractor. A small magnetic field surrounding the arc
region helps move the plasma forward. It has been difficult
to obtain a high ion current density for many materials
using a conventional ion implanter but MEVVA provides a
better advantage in this field. MEVVA is easy to operate
and produces a pulsed intense metal ion current. During the
process, the energy of the ion is between 20-200 keV, and
the average ion current between 1-10 mA. Also, vacuum is
maintained at around 10−5 torr.
Figure 1: Schematic of the MEVVA ion source
The experiments were done on Zirconia ceramics ( Zr 2 O 3)
as well as silicon nitride ceramics ( Si3 N 4 ¿ which were
hot-pressed.
In order to identify the elements as well as determining their
relative concentrations in the material under investigation,
several techniques that are accelerator-based can be used.
Some of them being Rutherford Backscattering(RBS),
Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA), as well as Elastic Recoil
Data Analysis (ERDA).
Results
For Y ion implantation on ZrO2 a Knoop type diamond
indenter with a load ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 N was used to
determine the microhardness of the implanted samples.
Each sample was subject to ten indentations and the
hardness is evaluated from the mean value of the
indentations. The tests are carried out under ambient
condition. The microhardness of the implanted zirconia in Figure 3. Relative Vicker microhardness as a function of
illustrated in table 1. It is noticeable that the microhardness ion influence for Mo+ and Y+ implanted Si3N4.
in the implanted sample is higher than the one in the control
sample. The minimum value of the hardness was observed
at a dose of 1.8 x 1018 Y/cm2, and the maximum value of the
hardness at a dose of 2 x 1017 Y/cm2 (Reference 17).

Table 1 KNOOP MICROHARDNESS AS A FUNCTION

OF ION DOSE FOR Y ION IMPLANTED ZrO2
(KG/MM2)

Vickers indentation test was is used to determine what

The Fracture toughness of the implanted samples is
illustrated in table 2. It is noticeable that the fracture
toughness is progressively decreasing with the increase of
the ion dose. The control sample has a fracture toughness of
11.4 MPa.m0.5. It is seen that the fracture toughness values
for the implanted sample is less than the value of the control
sample (Reference 17).
changes occur to the fracture toughness of the implanted
Si3N4 samples, and it turns out that it increased when
implantation dose is increased. Ion energy is significantly
important in improving the fracture toughness of the
implanted sample (Reference 17). The improvement in
fracture toughness in the Si3N4 samples is because of the
compressive stress coming from the ion implantation
process (Reference 20).

Conclusion

Table 2 FRACTURE TOUGHNESS OF IMPLANTED In conclusion, it is sometimes preferred to use ion

SAMPLES AS A FUNCTION OF ION DOSE
It can be seen in table 2 that implanting zirconia above
2x1017 Y/cm2 will lead to a progressive increase in the
fracture toughness value. This change in surface fracture
toughness is mainly due to changes in the microstructure of
the layers on the surface(Reference 18). The decrease in the
values between 0 to 2 x 1017 Y/cm2 is mainly because of
radiation damage. (Reference 18)
implantation instead of diffusion since we can use high or
low doses during ion implantation(1011 −1018 cm−2 ¿. Ion
implantation can also be more controlled and has a wide
range of variety since it can be used on metals, polymers, as
well as elastomers. It also helps produce a better surface
finish. Furthermore, we notice a potential to improve wear
and corrosion rates. We also notice many other benefits
which can encourage people to start using ion implantation.
Although it may be costly, its advantages outweigh the
disadvantages which may be an incentive to popularize its
use.

As for Mo and Y implantation, the microhardness of

implanted Si3N4 samples are illustrated in figure 3. It is
visible that the microhardness of the Mo ion implanted
samples decreased progressively when the implantation
dose is increased. On the other hand, the Y ion implanted
samples increased when the implementation dose increased
(Reference 17). This trend shows that the change in
microhardness of Si3N4 is greatly dependent on ion species.
(Reference 20)
References: Reference 17: (Hassan references here)
Reference 18:
Reference 1: https://www.twi-global.com/technical- Reference 19:
knowledge/faqs/faq-what-is-ion-implantation Reference 20:
Reference 2:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/ion-
implantation
Reference 3: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/CI1*920063
Reference 4:
https://www.chemicool.com/definition/homoepitaxy.html#:
~:text=a%20type%20of%20epitaxy%20in,substrate%20of
%20the%20same%20material.
Reference 5:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249508199_Study
_of_chemical_vapor_deposition_diamond_film_evolution_f
rom_a_nanodiamond_precursor_by_C13_isotopic_labeling
_and_ion_implantation
Reference 6: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-
23434-y#Bib1
Reference 7:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00086223
15303304
Reference 8: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/xenon
Reference 9:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0008
622317303767#:~:text=The%20hillock%20formation
%20mechanism%20is,towards%20the%20surface
%20%5B13%5D.
Reference 10: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.113240

National Research Council. 1979. Ion Implantation as a

New Surface Treatment Technology. Washington, DC: The
National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/19823

Brown, I. (2012). Vacuum Arc Ion Sources. Retrieved

2020, from
https://indico.cern.ch/event/150974/contributions/19
5715/attachments/154268/218340/Brown.pdf

Brown. (1986). APPLICATIONS OF THE MEVVA HIGH

CURRENT METAL ION SOURCE. Retrieved
2020, from
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4q601366

Ion Implantation. (n.d.). Retrieved 2020, from

https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/3687
2/6-152JFall2003/NR/rdonlyres/Electrical-
Engineering-and-Computer-Science/6-
152JFall2003/6E1AED06-7850-424A-AD97-
EFDBC927F0E6/0/lecture8a.pdf

Surface modification of materials by ion implantations for

industrial and medical applications. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://www-
pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1165_prn.
pdf

What is ion implantation? (2017, August 02). Retrieved

December 07, 2020, from
http://blog.bodycote.com/2017/08/02/what-is-ion-
implantation/