We have studied the formation of Ag-metal clusters in soda lime glass induced by heavy ion irra-diation with x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The shape of the formed clusters was studied both with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and with small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). Glass platelets, 0.1µm thick, were ion exchanged with silver according to standard procedures [1] and were irradiated at low temperature with 600-MeV Au ions from the ion beam laboratory ISL with fluences around 10¹² ions/cm² resulting in not yet overlapping, more than 50-µm long ion tracks. XAS experiments on the Ag K-edge, performed at HASYLAB, revealed the transformation of Ag from the oxidic type local structure after the ion-exchange process into the metallic form following the swift heavy ion irradiation and annealing [2]. Information on the shape of the formed clusters was obtained by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) on thin slices cut out of the samples parallel to the ion impact. While annealing under a reducing atmosphere of argon with a few % H₂ alone already leads to the formation of metal clusters (typical annealing conditions 30 minutes at 340°C), not very uniform in size and randomly distributed over the Ag-containing glass volume, ion beam irradiation yielded spherical clusters, larger in size and more homogeneous in their size distribution. The most remarkable feature is that these clusters are arranged in chains parallel to the direction of the ion beam. For a more detailed and more quantitative study of the arrangement, the shape, and the formation process SAXS experiments have been started at BESSY. First SAXS images confirm the TEM pictures in revealing column-like structures in q-space as disc-like images with dimensions translated into a diameter of the Ag-metal droplets of about 7 nm.

[1] G. Bataglin et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. B 200 (2003) 185

[2] H.-E. Mahnke et al., Nucl. Instr. and Meth. B 245 (2006) 222

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