Influence of Oxygen Ion Implantation on the Damage and Annealing Kinetics of Iron-Implanted Sapphire

The effects of implanted oxygen on the damage accumulation in sapphire which was previously implanted with iron was studied for (0001) sapphire implanted with iron and then with oxygen. The energies were chosen to give similar projected ranges. One series was implanted with a 1:l ratio (4x10{sup 16} ions/cm{sup 2} each) and another with a ratio of 2:3 (4x10{sup 16} fe{sup +}/cm{sup 2}; 6x10{sup 16} O{sup +}/cm{sup 2}). Retained damage, X, in the Al-sublattice, was compared to that produced by implantation of iron alone. The observed disorder was less for the dual implantations suggesting that implantation of oxygen enhanced dynamic recovery during implantation. Samples were annealed for one hour at 800 and 1200 C in an oxidizing and in a reducing atmosphere. No difference was found in the kinetics of recovery in the Al-sublattice between the two dual implant conditions. However, the rate of recovery was different for each from samples implanted with iron alone

Hydrogen retention in ion irradiated steels

In the future 1--5 MW Spallation Neutron Source, target radiation damage will be accompanied by high levels of hydrogen and helium transmutation products. The authors have recently carried out investigations using simultaneous Fe/He,H multiple-ion implantations into 316 LN stainless steel between 50 and 350 C to simulate the type of radiation damage expected in spallation neutron sources. Hydrogen and helium were injected at appropriate energy and rate, while displacement damage was introduced by nuclear stopping of 3.5 MeV Fe{sup +}, 1 {micro}m below the surface. Nanoindentation measurements showed a cumulative increase in hardness as a result of hydrogen and helium injection over and above the hardness increase due to the displacement damage alone. TEM investigation indicated the presence of small bubbles of the injected gases in the irradiated area. In the current experiment, the retention of hydrogen in irradiated steel was studied in order to better understand its contribution to the observed hardening. To achieve this, the deuterium isotope ({sup 2}H) was injected in place of natural hydrogen ({sup 1}H) during the implantation. Trapped deuterium was then profiled, at room temperature, using the high cross-section nuclear resonance reaction with {sup 3}He. Results showed a surprisingly high concentration of deuterium to be retained in the irradiated steel at low temperature, especially in the presence of helium. There is indication that hydrogen retention at spallation neutron source relevant target temperatures may reach as high as 10%

Triple ion-beam studies of radiation damage in 9Cr2WVTa ferritic/martensitic steel

To simulate radiation damage under a future Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) environment, irradiation experiments were conducted on a candidate 9Cr-2WVTa ferritic/martensitic steel using the Triple Ion Facility (TIF) at ORNL. Irradiation was conducted in single, dual, and triple ion beam modes using 3.5 MeV Fe{sup ++}, 360 keV He{sup +}, and 180 keV H{sup +} at 80, 200, and 350{degrees}C. These irradiations produced various defects comprising black dots, dislocation loops, line dislocations, and gas bubbles, which led to hardening. The largest increase in hardness, over 63 %, was observed after 50 dpa for triple beam irradiation conditions, revealing that both He and H are augmenting the hardening. Hardness increased less than 30 % after 30 dpa at 200{degrees}C by triple beams, compatible with neutron irradiation data from previous work which showed about a 30 % increase in yield strength after 27.2 dpa at 365{degrees}C. However, the very large concentrations of gas bubbles in the matrix and on lath and grain boundaries after these simulated SNS irradiations make predictions of fracture behavior from fission reactor irradiations to spallation target conditions inadvisable

Improved near surface heavy impurity detection by a novel charged particle energy filter technique

As the typical feature size of silicon integrated circuits, such as in VLSI technology, has become smaller, the surface cleanliness of silicon wafers has become more important. Hence, detection of trace impurities introduced during the processing steps is essential. A novel technique, consisting of a ``Charged Particle Energy Filter (CPEF)`` used in the path of the scattered helium ions in the conventional Rutherford Backscattering geometry, is proposed and its merits and limitations are discussed. In this technique, an electric field is applied across a pair of plates placed before the detector so that backscattered particles of only a selected energy range go through slits to strike the detector. This can be used to filter out particles from the lighter substrate atoms and thus reduce pulse pileup in the region of the impurity signal. The feasibility of this scheme was studied with silicon wafers implanted with 1{times}10{sup 14} and 1{times}10{sup 13} {sup 54}Fe/cm{sup 2} at an energy of 35 keV, and a 0.5 MeV He{sup +} analysis beam. It was found that the backscattered ion signals from the Si atoms can be reduced by more than three orders of magnitude. This suggests the detection limit for contaminants can be improved by at least two orders of magnitude compared to the conventional Rutherford Backscattering technique. This technique can be incorporated in 200--300 kV ion implanters for monitoring of surface contaminants in samples prior to implantation

Structure of Yttria Stabilized Zirconia Beads Produced by Gel Supported Precipitation

Yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is one of the inert matrix candidates selected for investigation as host matrix for minor actinide (MA) transmutation. The structural properties of (Zr0.84, Y0.16)O1.92 beads prepared by a sol–gel method for MA infiltration, are characterized as calcined (850 C) and sintered (1,600 C) beads. The calcined YSZ beads are finegrained and homogenous over the entire sphere and are surrounded by a uniform outer layer of approximately 30 lm thickness. After sintering at 1,600 C, the beads are compacted to 51% of their initial volume and exhibit a granular structure. The thermal expansion is nearly linear for the calcined material, but shows a parabolic behavior for the sintered (1,400 C) beads. In addition, the thermal expansion of calcined material is 20–25% less than after sintering. During heating up to 1,400 C, two processes can be distinguished. The first occurs between 900 and 1,000 C and is related to an increase in unit cell order. The second process involves grain-growth of the less crystalline calcined material between 1,100 and 1,300 C. These results have implications for preparation of YSZ and its use as an inert MA transmutation matix.JRC.E.4-Nuclear fuel

Direct fabrication and IV characterization of sub-surface conductive channels in diamond with MeV ion implantation

Abstract. In the present work we report about the investigation of the conduction mechanism of sp2 carbon micro-channels in single crystal diamond. The structures are fabricated with a technique which employs a MeV focused ion-beam to damage diamond in conjunction with variable thickness masks. This process changes significantly the structural properties of the target material, because the ion nuclear energy loss induces carbon conversion from sp3 to sp2 state mainly at the end of range of the ions (few micrometers). Furthermore, placing a mask with increasing thickness on the sample it is possible to modulate the channels depth at their endpoints, allowing their electrical connection with the surface. A single-crystal HPHT diamond sample was implanted with 1.8 MeV He+ ions at room temperature, the implantation fluence was set in the range 2.1 × 10 16 −6.3 × 10 17 ions cm−2 , determining the formation of micro-channels with a graded level of damage extending down to a depth of about 3 μm. After deposition of metallic contacts at the channels’ endpoints, the electrical characterization was performed measuring the I -V curves at variable temperatures in the 80 −690 K range. The Variable Range Hopping model was used to fit the experimental data in the ohmic regime, allowing the estimation of characteristic parameters such as the density of localized states at the Fermi level. A value of 5.5 × 10 17 states cm−3 eV−1 was obtained, in satisfactory agreement with values previously reported in literature. The power-law dependence between current and voltage is consistent with the space charge limited mechanism at moderate electric field