Potentialities of ion implantation for the synthesis and modification of metal nanoclusters

This work reviews the basic features of ion implantation as a tool for synthesizing and manipulating nanostructured materials with particular emphasis to nanocomposites made by dielectric matrices embedding metallic nanoparticles. After a brief introduction on the physics of ion implantation, two operating modes of ion implantation will be presented: the first is related to the direct synthesis of nanoclusters as resulting from the precipitation of the supersaturated solid solution produced by the implanted ions; the second is related to the modification induced by the ion beam on already formed nanostructures and is therefore referred to as indirect synthesis. Throughout the paper also various possible technological applications of the different kind of nanoclusters (mono-elemental or bimetallic) obtained by both approaches are presented: examples are given in the field of nonlinear optics, nanophotonics, magnetism and gas sensing.