The onset of radiation blistering as a function of target temperature for D+ irradiated copper

Abstract

Radiation blistering in 200 keV D+ irradiated copper has been studied for target temperatures in the range 120 to 380 K. Abrupt changes in both the critical dose for blistering and the blister morphology are observed to occur at target temperatures of 195 ± 10 and 300 ± 5 K. For target temperatures in the ranges 120 to 190 K and 300 to 380 K, semi-spherical blisters with a mean diameter of ~5.5 μm are observed to form at fluences of (2.0 ± 0.5) × 1022 and (4 ± 1) × 1022 d/m2, respectively. In the intermediate temperature region, irregularly shaped blisters with a mean diameter of ~1.3 μm are found to form at a fluence of (6 ± 2) × 1021 d/m2. Depth profiles of the implanted deuterium have been obtained. The deuterium concentrations at the onset of blistering are found to be approximately constant over the temperature ranges 120 to 190 K and 190 to 300 K, although a different concentration is observed in each range. For temperatures above 300 K, the deuterium concentration at the onset of blistering is found to decrease with increasing temperature.