Structure and optical properties of silver granular films formed by Ag+ ion implantation in viscous polymer

The influence of the relaxation state (viscosity) of a polymer substrate on the synthesis of silver granular films by ion implantation was investigated. The samples were obtained by implantation of 30 keV Ag+ ions in both viscous-flow and viscoelastic silicone polymers for doses of (0.05-1.25)*1017 cm-2 at the current density of 4 μA/cm2. TEM study showed that the process of the silver film growth, the film morphology and microstructure depend strongly on the relaxation state of the silicone target. The growth of silver granular films in the implanted polymers leads to the changing of optical transmission spectra in visible wavelength range. The optical selective absorption at the plasma resonance wavelength of silver nanoparticles was determined after implantation with dose of 1*1016 cm-2. The remarkable red shift of plasma resonance peak position was observed with dose increasing and changing of the viscosity of the polymer substrate. The optical spectra of the implanted polymers were analysed by using the Maxwell-Garnet theory. The dose dependencies of silver filling factor were calculated for both irradiated viscous and viscoelastic silicone polymers. Estimated facts are very important for creation of new metal/polymer compositions for integral optic devices