Photoluminescence of Si+ and C+ implanted polymers

Visible photoluminescence (PL) of ion implanted polymers was studied. Different polymer materials were used for the purpose: polypropylene (PP), poly-tetrafluor-ethylene (Teflon), ultra-high-molecular-weight-polyethylene (UHMWPE) and UHMWPE+Bi. Ion implantation with Si+ and C+ was performed at energies of 30 keV with doses in the range 1013 - 1017 cm2. The results show that a PL enhancement (PLE) effect may occur for some polymer materials if proper implantation energy and doses are employed, the effect in the case of some polymer materials implanted with Si+ and C+ being considerable. While the effect is observed for all doses of C+ implanted in UHMWPE, PLE is only observed for the lowest dose of Si+ (D = 1x1015 cm-2) implanted in Teflon, the further dose increase resulting in PL quenching only, presumably due to processes of structural degradation The appearance of ultra-violet (UV) range PL in the case of Si+ implanted UHMWPE could be originating from the formation of Si-related new defect sites, but more data are needed to explore this effect further into the deeper UV range (λ<350 nm).