High temperature annealing studies of strontium ion implanted glassy carbon

Glassy carbon samples were implanted with 200 keV strontium ions to a fluence of 2 × 1016 ions/cm2 at room temperature. Analysis with Raman spectroscopy showed that ion bombardment amorphises the glassy carbon structure. Partial recovery of the glassy carbon structure was achieved after the implanted sample was vacuum annealed at 900 °C for 1 h. Annealing the strontium ion bombarded sample at 2000 °C for 5 h resulted in recovery of the glassy carbon substrate with the intensity of the D peak becoming lower than that of the pristine glassy carbon. Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS) showed that the implanted strontium diffused towards the surface of the glassy carbon after annealing the sample at 900 °C. This diffusion was also accompanied by loss of the implanted strontium. Comparison between the as-implanted and 900 °C depth profiles showed that less than 30% of the strontium was retained in the glassy carbon after heat treatment at 900 °C. The RBS profile after annealing at 2000 °C indicated that no strontium ions were retained after heat treatment at this temperature.