Science and Engineering Applications 2(3) (2017) 148-151 ISSN-2456-2793(Online) ©Payam Publishing Pvt. Lt. India http://www.jfips.com/ 148 Role of C ion implantation on structural and optical properties of CeO2 thin films deposited on quartz substrates Pawan Kumar 1 , Zubida Habib 2* and Dar Manzoor 3 1 Department of Physics, Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra, Haryana – 136119, India 2 Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Hazratbal, Srinagar 190006, India 3 Physical Chemistry Division, NCL Pune-411008, India *Email : zubida.habib@gmail.com Abstract This investigation reports on effect of C ion implantation on structure and optical properties of CeO2 thin films deposited on quartz substrates by the radio frequency (RF)-sputtering method. X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the face-centered cubic (FCC) structure corresponds to CeO2. The lattice parameter of C ion implanted CeO2 films was found to decrease compared to that of the pristine CeO2 film. The shift in the peak positions after C ion implantation indicates changed lattice parameters. The observed values of strain are found to be positive and decreasing value of strain after C ion implantation indicates tensile strain in all of the prepared CeO2 films. The Raman spectra further confirm the formation of phase and also indicate the presence of defects in these films. The F2g peak intensity is decreasing with C ion fluence compared with that of the pristine film which is due to defects created after C ion implantation. Uv-Vis spectra shows that energy band gap decreases with C ion implantation which indicates increase in conductivity with C ion implantation in the films. Keywords: CeO2, Ion implantation, Band gap. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26705.xxx.xxx.xxxx Received : 17/11/2017 Published online : 25/11/2017 1. Introduction Ceria based metal oxide materials have several technological applications and has been extensively studied [1-5]. These materials are important because of their potential applications such as UV absorbents and filters, electronic ceramic, ultra-precise polishing, gas sensor, catalysts and electrolyte in the fuel cell technology [6], catalytic wet oxidation, engine exhaust catalysts and photocatalytic oxidation of water. Most recently, CeO2 nanoparticles have been tested for their ability to serve as free-radical scavengers [7-8]. Therefore, the extensive synthesis and study of CeO2 becomes an urgent task for further research and applications [9-10]. Cerium oxide (CeO2) shows good optical properties and is a semiconductor with wide band gap energy (3.19eV). The material’s modification with energetic ion beams shows interesting technological applications. There are two modes of materials modification by energetic ion beams, ion implantation and swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation. In both of the techniques, the energy and fluence of incident ions play an important role [11]. In the ion implantation process, the energetic ions have low energy (a few tens of keV to a few hundreds of keV). The desired ions can be implanted in the suitable material by choosing the various implantation parameters like type of ion, ion energy, range of ion and ion fluence etc. and the materials properties get modified due to the presence of implanted ions. There are several reports available on the formation of embedded nano phases of target ions and and effects of such nano phases on the various properties of host material [12-13]. In this context we have performed ion implantation experiment with different fluencies on CeO2 thin films. Considering the importance of these materials, present study focuses on understanding of structural and optical properties of C ion implanted CeO2 thin films deposited by RF sputtering. Content lists available at JFIPS Science and Engineering Applications Journal home page: JFIPS SAEA