XPS and optical studies of Xe+-implanted and annealed YSZ single crystals

Xe+ ion implantation with 200 keV was completed at room temperature up to a fluence of 1 x 1017 ion/cm2 in yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) single crystals. Optical absorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the changes of optical properties and charge state in the as-implanted and annealed crystals. A broad absorption band centered at 522 or 497 nm was observed in the optical absorption spectra of samples implanted with fluences of 1 x 1016 ion/cm2 and 1 x 1017 ion/cm2, respectively. These two absorption bands both disappeared due to recombination of color centers after annealing at 250 deg. C. XPS measurements showed two Gaussian components of O1s spectrum assigned to and , respectively, in YSZ single crystals. After ion implantation, these two peaks merged into a single peak with the increasing etching depth. However, this single peak split into two Gaussian components again after annealing at 250 deg. C. The concentration of Xe decreased drastically after annealing at 900 deg. C. And the XPS measurement barely detected the Xe. There was no change in the photoluminescence of YSZ single crystals with a fluence of 1 x 1017 ion/cm2 after annealing up to 900 deg. C