Annealing of radiation damage in (1 0 0), (1 1 0) and (1 1 1) MgO single crystals implanted with Ar+ ions

The correlation of radiation damage recovery with crystallographic orientation in magnesium oxide (MgO) single crystals during isochronal post-implantation annealing was investigated. Samples of (1 0 0), (1 1 0) and (1 1 1) MgO were implanted with 100 keV Ar+ ions at room temperature and annealed in vacuum at temperatures ranging from 600 to 1300 °C for 3 min. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry combined with ion channeling was used to analyze radiation damage and recovery. The results indicated that the radiation damage was stable up to the annealing temperature of ∼600 °C. At higher annealing temperatures orientation dependent lattice recovery was observed. No complete lattice recovery was achieved, but in (1 1 0) MgO the lattice recovery was more effective than in (1 0 0) and (1 1 1) oriented samples.