Radiation Damage Effects in $NB^+$ Implanted Sapphire After Annealing

Niobium ions of 380 keV energy have been implanted at 300k in sapphire with a dose of $5\times10^{16}\textrm{ions/cm}^2$ and subsequently thermal annealed up to $1100^{\circ}C$ at reducing atmosphere. The behavior of the radiation damage produced by ion implantation followed by annealing is investigated using optical absorption technique and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). It is found that different defects annealed are dependent on the annealing temperature owing to different mechanisms which are proposed on the basis of the optical absorption measurement, and the implanted niobium in sapphire is in different local environments with different charge states after annealing, which are analyzed by XPS measurements.