Low-temperature photoluminescence of ion-implanted SiO2: Sn+ films and glasses

Abstract

Low-temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy with pulsed synchrotron excitation is applied to study the regularities of excitation and relaxation of both point defects and nanoparticles formed by tin implantation into SiO 2 films and glasses. It has been found that tin implantation followed by air and nitrogen annealing yields the formation of α-Sn nanoclusters and nonstoichiometric SnO x nanoparticles, while a stable phase of SnO 2 does not appear. Alternative channels of luminescence excitation are revealed for nanoclusters, including energy transfer from excitons and electron-hole pairs of the host SiO 2 matrix. © 2012 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.