Low-Energy D(d,p)T Spectroscopy for Studying Dynamic Deuteron Implant Effects

Hydrogen isotope buildup and migration during implantation are difficult to study in many materials because of its high mobility. In addition, under high fluence conditions much of the damage produced by the ion beam is annealed during the implant and is thus unobservable by post-mortem analysis. A system is-described for implanting deuterium at 40 keV and simultaneously evaluating the deuterium retention and release under various target conditions. Semi-quantitative deuterium profiling by D(d,p)T spectroscopy is shown useful at 40 keV, where the approach to a dynamic equilibrium is rapid. Experimental data on ScD2 and Cu-Be are presented which illustrate the utility of the technique for investigating bombardment effects on the deuterium binding, surface retention barriers, damage-enhanced mobility, and impurity-produced depletion.