Enhancement of quartz electrical conductivity by ion implantation

A particular solution is based on metallic ion implantation to obtain a buried conductor in order to avoid failures that frequently occur during bonding when the conducting path is a deposited metal layer. Quartz was implanted with titanium and a highly conductive layer was formed near the surface. The implantation-induced changes in quartz were characterized by various means. As a result of implantation, quartz was dissociated. Metallic titanium and new chemical compounds including Si, O, and Ti were observed. However, no conductivity was observed with metallic ions such as Fe and Cu. This suggests a mechanism related to the chemical reactivity of the implanted species with SiO₂. This technique has been developed for the fabrication of miniaturized sensors