Subsisting oxidizing material and parting agent selection in the fabrication of nuclear target

Abstract

In order to perform certain heavy ion nuclear reaction experiments, the enriched targets of stable isotopes 61,62Ni, 116Sn, 154,144Sm and 142,148Nd have been fabricated by adapting physical vapour deposition technique at IUAC, New Delhi using a high vacuum evaporation chamber facility. Target materials are evaporated on a thin lower Z backing material. Fabrication of targets of materials which get readily oxidized poses lot of challenges. To avoid oxidation, appropriate capping along with backing is provided. To avoid contamination in the target, environmental condition and the proper selection of parting agent is also important. Role of encapsulation in minimizing the oxidation and the contamination level from parting agents in the targets is reported in this work. The thicknesses of the targets are verified using profilometer, α-energy loss technique. The purity of the fabricated targets is confirmed using RBS technique.