Silver ion beam formation and implantation on nano-pyramidal template for isolated nano-dot formation

We report the development of silver (Ag) ion-beam by Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) plasma sputtering and synthesis of Ag nano-dot arrays by implantation of the Ag+ ions on a pre-fabricated silicon nano-template. Ag atoms are mixed with the argon plasma by sputtering a biased silver plate placed inside the ECR chamber. The extracted and mass-separated Ag+ ions are transported to a UHV target chamber for implantation. The variation of the flux of Ag+ ion beam is studied by changing the various parameters, such as applied bias voltage of Ag plate, microwave power, argon gas pressure and specifically, the position of silver plate from the ECR plasma center. It is observed that the sputtering rate of Ag and thereby the final Ag beam current strongly depends on the applied bias and position of the plate. The dependence of microwave power and gas pressure on beam intensity is also investigated and explained in terms of ionization and mean free path of the ionized atoms. Finally, 6 keV Ag+ ions are implanted on pre-patterned nano-pyramidal templates to form an array of Ag nano dots on a large area, by exploiting the geometrical shape of the templates and the directionality of the ion beam. •Development of Ag ion beam in a 2.4 GHz ECR ion source by sputtering a silver plate inside the plasma chamber.•Variation of beam flux by changing the ion source and sputtering parameters.•Vacuum condition of the ECR ion source is the most sensitive parameter for stable and intense metal beam development.•Optimized pure Ag + beam is used for the synthesis of silver nano-dots array on the entire ion exposed area.•TEM and XPS analysis confirm the formation of isolated Ag dots on nano-template.