Analysis of retained deuterium on Be-based films: Ion implantation vs. in-situ loading

Abstract

Pure Be, Be-O and Be-O-C thin coatings were deposited using high-power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) with and without incorporation of deuterium. The coatings produced without deuterium were implanted afterwards with 15 keV 2H+ ion beams with a fluence limited to 2 × 1017 ion/cm2 in order to mitigate the damage imposed by ion irradiation and prevent a fast gas release. The as-deposited and as-implanted coatings were analysed by IBA techniques, namely by elastic and Rutherford backscattering spectrometries (EBS and RBS, respectively), nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) and by time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis (ToF-ERDA). Despite distinct deuterium depth profiles in the implanted samples, the results show that for the present ion implantation and deposition parameters, similar retained amounts are revealed in the films loaded by ion implantation or during the HiPIMS deposition, assuring ion implantation as a competitive and reliable method for fuel incorporation in thin Be-based films for retention studies in controlled conditions.