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Published 1978 | public
Journal Article

Sputtering of uranium

Abstract

A fission track technique was employed to study the sputtering of uranium by ^1H^+, ^4He^+, and ^(40)Ar^+ ions with energies up to 120 keV. The technique involves detection of fission tracks produced in mica by ^(235)U sputtered onto collector foils which are subsequently irradiated with thermal neutrons. This method is extremely sensitive and allowed measurement of sputtering yields less than 10^(−4) atoms per ion. It also made possible a detailed study of the emission of chunks from the uranium targets during sputtering. Mass distributions of chunks emitted during bombardment by 40-120 keV protons and by 80 keV argon are presented. Angular distributions of sputtered material and total sputtering yields for uranium metal under bombardment by 13-120 keV protons and by 40-120 keV ^4He^+ are also presented. Sputtering yields for 40 and 80 keV ^(40)Ar^+ were measured as well. Comparisons are made between the experimental results and those predicted by the collision cascade model.

Additional Information

© 1978 Gordon and Breach Science Publishers Ltd. Received July 30, 1977; in final form October 3, 1977. Supported in part by the National Science Foundation [PHY 76-83685], the National Aeronautics and Space Administration [NGR05-002-333), the ford Motor Company, and the Energy Research and Development Administration (EX-76-G-03-1305). The authors wish especially to acknowledge the help provided by D. S. Burnett which was an essential ingredient in the development of the fission track technique and its successful application. We would like to thank z. E. Switkowski for many useful discussions. We would also like to thank R. Weller and J. Griffith for discussions, calculations of the theoretical sputtering yields, and measurement of the required sticking fractions.

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 19, 2023