EFFECT OF THERMAL TREATMENT ON THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF COLOIDAL Cu NANOPARTICLES PREPARED BY ION-IMPLANTATION IN QUARTZ GLASS

EFFECT OF THERMAL TREATMENT ON THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF COLOIDAL Cu NANOPARTICLES PREPARED BY ION-IMPLANTATION IN QUARTZ GLASS

A. Bautista-Hernández¹, U. Pal¹, L. Rodríguez Fernández², and J. C. Cheang-Wong²

1 Instituto de Física, Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Apdo. Postal J-48, Puebla, Pue. 72570, Mexico.

^{2 Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 01000 Mexico D.F., Mexico.

Coloidal Cu nanoparticles are prepared by ion-implantation of high energy (2 MeV) Cu ions in qartz glass with different doses. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) has been used to study the distribution of Cu in the matrix. Optical absorption measurement in the samples revealed a peak around 560 nm, characteristic of coloidal Cu nanoparticles. The samples were annealed at 600, 800 and 1050⁰C for 1 hour in air. From the FWHM of the absorption bands, the average radius of the Cu particles has been calculated considering a Gaussian form of the absorption peak and a spherical shape of the particles. We could observe a dependence of the size of the Cu particles on the temperature of annealing through the shift of the peak position in their absorption spectra. The mechanisms of the formation of Cu nanoparticles and their growth on annealing have been discussed.}