Investigation of H⁺ and B⁺/H⁺ implantation in LiTaO₃ single-crystals

LiTaO₃ single-crystals have been implanted by hydrogen or boron mixed with hydrogen ions. The behavior of ion implantation and annealing has been investigated because they are the essential problems to be investigated for checking the possibility to realize LiTaO₃ single-crystal layer transfer on other substrates. Optical microscope image shows that LiTaO₃ implanted with 5 × 10¹⁶ions/cm² H⁺ will generate bubbles at the temperature of 250 °C with air ambient. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) image shows that the bubbles would make the surface of LiTaO₃ split at 600 °C, but the samples that have been implanted with both B⁺ and H⁺ did not generate any bubbles, even when annealed at temperatures as high as 800 °C for 20 min in air ambient. The damage behavior and/or internal stress because of ion implantation and recovery of damage after annealing were also investigated by X-ray rocking curves and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and channeling (RBS/C).