Multi-direction channelling study of the Ag:YSZ nanocomposites prepared by ion implantation

The paper reports on implantation damage accumulation, Ag distribution and the interior morphology in different crystallographic orientations of implanted samples of cubic yttria-stabilised zirconia (YSZ). (100)-, (110)- and (111)-oriented YSZ was implanted with 400-keV Ag⁺ ions at ion fluences from 5 × 10¹⁴ to 5 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻². Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) in the channelling mode (RBS-C), as well as X-ray diffraction (XRD), were used for the quantitative measurement of the lattice disorder and Ag distribution. The defect propagation and Ag accumulation were observed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Although similar damage evolution trends were observed along with all channelling directions, the disorder accumulation is lower along the <110> direction than along the <100> and <111> direction. The damage extends much deeper than the theoretically predicted depths. It is attributed to long-range defect migration effects, confirmed by TEM. At the ion fluence of 5 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻², nanometre-sized Ag precipitates were identified in the depth of 30–130 nm based on the Ag concentration–depth profiles determined by RBS.