Mercury implanted into aluminium: Enhancement of the substitutional fraction by pre-implantation of kryption

• Published in: Materials chemistry and physics 1994, Vol.38 (2), p.181-186
• Main Authors: Khubeis, I., Meyer, O.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0254-0584; 1879-3312
• DOI: 10.1016/0254-0584(94)90009-4

The substitutional fraction, f s, of Hg implanted into Al single crystals at 293 K and 77 K increases with increasing Hg concentration in the region between about 0.1 at.% and 1 at.% from 0.05 to 0.3 at 293 K and from 0.55 to 0.80 at 77 K. In this concentration region the ratio of the critical angle for Hg to that of Al ( Ψ Hg 1 2 Ψ Al 1 2 ) is smaller than 1, indicating Hg-vacancy complex formation. Implantation of 1.6 × 10 16 Kr + cm 2 at 293 K and 77 K, followed by an implantation of about 0.15 at.% Hg leads to an increase of Ψ Hg 1 2 Ψ Al 1 2 and to a large increase of f s from 0.05 to 0.6 and from 0.55 to 0.82, respectively. This large enhancement of the maximum f s-values are attributed to the high vacancy trapping efficiency of the Kr atoms and of vacancy clusters, which reduces the density of mobile vacancies and thus the probability of Hg-vacancy complex formation.