Lattice site and stability of implanted Ag in ZnO

In this work we report on the lattice location of implanted Ag in ZnO single-crystals, evaluated by means of the emission channeling technique. Following 60 keV low dose (2 $\times 10^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$) ion implantation, the $\beta^{-}$-emission patterns from $^{111}$Ag were monitored with a position-sensitive detector as a function of annealing temperature up to 800$^\circ$C in vacuum. Our experiments revealed that in the as-implanted state around 30% of the Ag atoms are substitutional at the Zn site with root mean square displacements around 0.17-0.28 . Though this fraction did not change with increasing annealing temperature, upon annealing at 600°C the root mean square displacement of Ag from the Zn site increased considerably, followed by partial outdiffusion during 800°C annealing.