RBS study of defect profiles in proton implanted LiNbo3

Single crystals of lithium niobate were implanted at room temperature with 20 keV protons at fluences ranging from 5 × 1016 H+/cm2 to 2 × 1017 H+/cm2. Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry in channeling geometry (RBS-C) performed at three beam energies (1, 1.5, and 2 MeV) and subsequent analysis of the energy dependence of the dechanneling cross section enabled us to show the predominant induced lattice defects are likely of a ‘point’ nature. Electron microscopy investigations also support this assumption.