Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Nanotechnology Volume 2012, Article ID 635705, 6 pages doi:10.1155/2012/635705 Research Article A Combined Ion Implantation/Nanosecond Laser Irradiation Approach towards Si Nanostructures Doping F. Ruffino, 1, 2 L. Romano, 1, 2 E. Carria, 1, 2 M. Miritello, 2 M. G. Grimaldi, 1, 2 V. Privitera, 2, 3 and F. Marabelli 4 1 Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universit` a di Catania, via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy 2 MATIS, CNR, IMM, via S. Sofia 64, 95123 Catania, Italy 3 Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi (CNR)-(IMM)—Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche VIII Strada 5, 95121 Catania, Italy 4 Dipartimento di Fisica “A.Volta,” Universit` a degli Studi di Pavia, via Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia, Italy Correspondence should be addressed to F. Ruffino, francesco.ruffino@ct.infn.it Received 28 September 2011; Accepted 23 November 2011 Academic Editor: Arturo I. Martinez Copyright © 2012 F. Ruffino et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The exploitation of Si nanostructures for electronic and optoelectronic devices depends on their electronic doping. We investigate a methodology for As doping of Si nanostructures taking advantages of ion beam implantation and nanosecond laser irradiation melting dynamics. We illustrate the behaviour of As when it is confined, by the implantation technique, in a SiO 2 /Si/SiO 2 multilayer and its spatial redistribution after annealing processes. As accumulation at the Si/SiO 2 interfaces was observed by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in agreement with a model that assumes a traps distribution in the Si in the first 2-3 nm above the SiO 2 /Si interfaces. A concentration of 10 14 traps/cm 2 has been evaluated. This result opens perspectives for As doping of Si nanoclusters embedded in SiO 2 since a Si nanocluster of radius 1 nm embedded in SiO 2 should trap 13 As atoms at the interface. In order to promote the As incorporation in the nanoclusters for an effective doping, an approach based on ion implantation and nanosecond laser irradiation was investigated. Si nanoclusters were produced in SiO 2 layer. After As ion implantation and nanosecond laser irradiation, spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements show nanoclusters optical properties consistent with their effective doping. 1. Introduction The future exploitation of semiconductor nanostructures (Si nanostructures in particular) depends on the understanding and control of their electronic doping. Doping of semicon- ductor nanostructures has proven to be distinct from the cor- responding bulk materials [1–5] and recently great attention has been focused on developing practical methodologies to dope and control the doping properties of Si nanostructures such, as nanoclusters (NCs) [6–13] and nanowires [14–17], and on developing theoretical approaches to understand these properties [18–23]. The control of doping properties of Si nanostructures allows the fabrication of complex nanomaterials characterized by unpreceded electrical and optoelectronic functionalities. In this work, we present a novel approach, based on ion implantation and nanosecond laser irradiations, to dope Si-based low-dimensional systems by As. In particular, two different types of Si low-dimensional systems are investigated relatively to their As-doping properties: a nanoscale Si layer embedded between two SiO 2 layers and Si NCs embedded in SiO 2 . Concerning the former case, we illustrate the be- haviour of As confined, by the implantation technique, in a SiO 2 (70 nm)/Si(30 nm)/SiO 2 (70 nm) multilayer and its spa- tial redistribution when conventional annealing processes are performed. Concerning the latter experiment, after the As implantation in the SiO 2 layer containing Si NCs, laser irradiation was used to melt the Si NCs and to promote the As atomic incorporation in the Si NCs in order to achieve high doping level. Spectroscopic ellipsometry was