The quantitative damage and impurity depth profiling of the MgO single crystal

Ion implantation is frequently used method for the simulation of material damage caused by its exposure to harsh environments. The induced material damage and impurities accumulation will exhibit strong depth dependency in the case of its exposure to charged particles due to particle energy losses mechanisms. In presented study, we have performed an ion implantation of 4 MeV C3+ ions with three different fluences (1.5, 5 and 10 × 1015 cm−2) in the MgO [100] crystal in order to simulate structural damage induced by energetic particles. The damage depth profiles have been obtained by Elastic Backscattering Spectrometry in channeling orientation (EBS/C) using 1.86 MeV protons. EBS/C spectra were analyzed with the in house developed phenomenological Channeling SIMulation (CSIM) code. In addition to the damage depth profiles, with the new upgraded version of CSIM, concentration depth profile of implanted atoms (impurities) have also been determined. EBS/C spectra obtained profiles have been compared with the results of depth-resolved (micro) Photoluminescence spectroscopy (μPL) of the implanted MgO crystal cross-section. EBS/C and μPL obtained profiles for all investigated samples show very good consistency. This opens up the possibility for usage of EBS/C method in material analysis of lighter than bulk impurity concentration profiling.