Low gas consumption fabrication of 3He solid targets for nuclear reactions

Asunción Fernández, Dirk Hufschmidt, Julien L. Colaux, Jose Javier Valiente-Dobón, Vanda Godinho, Maria C. Jiménez de Haro, David Feria, Andrés Gadea, Stéphane Lucas

Résultats de recherche: Contribution à un journal/une revueArticleRevue par des pairs

Résumé

Nanoporous solids that stabilize trapped gas nanobubbles open new possibilities to fabricate solid targets for nuclear reactions. A methodology is described based on the magnetron sputtering (MS) technique operated under quasistatic flux conditions to produce such nanocomposites films with 3He contents of up to 16 at.% in an amorphous-silicon matrix. In addition to the characteristic low pressure (3–6 Pa) needed for the gas discharge, the method ensures almost complete reduction of the process gas flow during film fabrication. The method could produce similar materials to those obtained under classical dynamic flux conditions for MS. The drastic reduction (>99.5%) of the gas consumption is fundamental for the fabrication of targets with scarce and expensive gases. Si:3He and W:3He targets are presented together with their microstructural (scanning and transmission electron microscopy, SEM and TEM respectively) and compositional (Ion Beam Analysis, IBA) characterization. The 3He content achieved was over 1 × 1018 at/cm2 for film thicknesses between 1.5 and 3 μm for both Si and W matrices. First experiments to probe the stability of the targets for nuclear reaction studies in inverse kinematics configurations are presented.

langue originaleAnglais
Numéro d'article108337
journalMaterials and Design
Volume186
Les DOIs
Etat de la publicationPublié - 15 janv. 2020

Financement

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and co-financed by EU FEDER funds under the following grants: RTI2018-093871-B-I00 , CTQ2015-65918-R , FPA2017-84756-C4 and SEV-2014-0398 . CSIC support under grant PIE-201760E002 is also acknowledged. A.F. thanks the Spanish Ministry for granting her with a visiting researcher fellowship at the Univ. Namur. Authors thank the Laboratory for Nanoscopies and Spectroscopies (LANE) for the TEM facilities and the technical assistance of J. López, O. Montes, I. Rosa, and M.R. García. Appendix A

Bailleurs de fondsNuméro du bailleur de fonds
EU FEDER
Laboratory for Nanoscopies and Spectroscopies
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
European Regional Development FundPIE-201760E002, FPA2017-84756-C4, SEV-2014-0398, RTI2018-093871-B-I00, CTQ2015-65918-R

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