Synergistic Effect of He for the Fabrication of Ne and Ar Gas-Charged Silicon Thin Films as Solid Targets for Spectroscopic Studies

Asunción Fernández, Vanda Godinho, José Avila, Maria C. Jiménez de Haro, Dirk Hufschmidt, Jennifer López-Viejobueno, G. Eduardo Almanza-Vergara, F. Javier Ferrer, Julien Colaux, Stéphane Lucas, Maria Carmen Asensio

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Abstract

Sputtering of silicon in a He magnetron discharge (MS) has been reported as a bottom-up procedure to obtain He-charged silicon films (i.e., He nanobubbles encapsulated in a silicon matrix). The incorporation of heavier noble gases is demonstrated in this work with a synergistic effect, producing increased Ne and Ar incorporations when using He–Ne and He–Ar gas mixtures in the MS process. Microstructural and chemical characterizations are reported using ion beam analysis (IBA) and scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM). In addition to gas incorporation, He promotes the formation of larger nanobubbles. In the case of Ne, high-resolution X-ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopies (XPS and XAS) are reported, with remarkable dependence of the Ne 1s photoemission and the Ne K-edge absorption on the nanobubble’s size and composition. The gas (He, Ne and Ar)-charged thin films are proposed as “solid” targets for the characterization of spectroscopic properties of noble gases in a confined state without the need for cryogenics or high-pressure anvils devices. Also, their use as targets for nuclear reaction studies is foreseen.
Original languageEnglish
Article number727
Pages (from-to)727-741
Number of pages14
JournalNanomaterials
Volume14
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Apr 2024

Keywords

  • IBA analysis
  • Ne, Ar and He solid targets
  • XPS and XAS spectroscopic analyses
  • gas-charged Si films
  • magnetron sputtering
  • microstructural characterization

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