Investigations on the characterization of ion implanted hexagonal boron nitride

The effect of ion implantation on hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is studied herein. We use boron as an ion of choice to introduce radiation damage into h-BN, at fluences ranging from 1 × 1014–1 × 1016 ions/cm2 and implantation energy ranges from 40 to 160 keV. The thermal dependence is also investigated by varying the annealing temperature from room temperature to 400 °C after implantation. Raman spectroscopy showed Raman active defects one of which is possibly related to the formation of cubic boron nitride nanocrystals (nc-BN) within the implanted range. The relationship of these defect induced Raman active peaks was investigated by varying the implantation parameters. The preliminary Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) results also are reported briefly.