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B4C thin films for neutron detection

Höglund, Carina LU ; Birch, Jens ; Andersen, Ken LU ; Bigault, Thierry ; Buffet, Jean-Claude ; Correa, Jonathan ; van Esch, Patrick ; Guerard, Bruno ; Hall-Wilton, Richard LU and Jensen, Jens , et al. (2012) In Applied Physics Reviews 111(10).
Abstract
Due to the very limited availability of He-3, new kinds of neutron detectors, not based on 3He, are urgently needed. Here, we present a method to produce thin films of (B4C)-B-10, with maximized detection efficiency, intended to be part of a new generation of large area neutron detectors. B4C thin Films have been deposited onto Al-blade and Si wafer substrates by dc magnetron sputtering from (B4C)-B-nat and (B4C)-B-10 targets in an Ar discharge, using an industrial deposition system. The films were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, elastic recoil detection analysis, x-ray reflectivity, and neutron radiography. We show that the film-substrate adhesion and film purity are improved by increased substrate temperature and... (More)
Due to the very limited availability of He-3, new kinds of neutron detectors, not based on 3He, are urgently needed. Here, we present a method to produce thin films of (B4C)-B-10, with maximized detection efficiency, intended to be part of a new generation of large area neutron detectors. B4C thin Films have been deposited onto Al-blade and Si wafer substrates by dc magnetron sputtering from (B4C)-B-nat and (B4C)-B-10 targets in an Ar discharge, using an industrial deposition system. The films were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, elastic recoil detection analysis, x-ray reflectivity, and neutron radiography. We show that the film-substrate adhesion and film purity are improved by increased substrate temperature and deposition rate. A deposition rate of 3.8 angstrom/s and substrate temperature of 400 degrees C result in films with a density close to bulk values and good adhesion to film thickness above 3 mu m. Boron-10 contents of almost 80 at. % are obtained in 6.3 m(2) of 1 mu m thick (B4C)-B-10 thin films coated on Al-blades. Initial neutron absorption measurements agree with Monte Carlo simulations and show that the layer thickness, number of layers, neutron wavelength, and amount of impurities are determining factors. The study also shows the importance of having uniform layer thicknesses over large areas, which for a full-scale detector could be in total similar to 1000 m(2) of two-side coated Al-blades with similar to 1 mu m thick (B4C)-B-10 films. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4718573] (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Applied Physics Reviews
volume
111
issue
10
publisher
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
external identifiers
  • wos:000305363700176
  • scopus:84862142032
ISSN
1931-9401
DOI
10.1063/1.4718573
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7938b6ed-5311-44f4-806c-53420912b41c (old id 2890760)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:57:53
date last changed
2022-04-12 19:14:30
@article{7938b6ed-5311-44f4-806c-53420912b41c,
  abstract     = {{Due to the very limited availability of He-3, new kinds of neutron detectors, not based on 3He, are urgently needed. Here, we present a method to produce thin films of (B4C)-B-10, with maximized detection efficiency, intended to be part of a new generation of large area neutron detectors. B4C thin Films have been deposited onto Al-blade and Si wafer substrates by dc magnetron sputtering from (B4C)-B-nat and (B4C)-B-10 targets in an Ar discharge, using an industrial deposition system. The films were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, elastic recoil detection analysis, x-ray reflectivity, and neutron radiography. We show that the film-substrate adhesion and film purity are improved by increased substrate temperature and deposition rate. A deposition rate of 3.8 angstrom/s and substrate temperature of 400 degrees C result in films with a density close to bulk values and good adhesion to film thickness above 3 mu m. Boron-10 contents of almost 80 at. % are obtained in 6.3 m(2) of 1 mu m thick (B4C)-B-10 thin films coated on Al-blades. Initial neutron absorption measurements agree with Monte Carlo simulations and show that the layer thickness, number of layers, neutron wavelength, and amount of impurities are determining factors. The study also shows the importance of having uniform layer thicknesses over large areas, which for a full-scale detector could be in total similar to 1000 m(2) of two-side coated Al-blades with similar to 1 mu m thick (B4C)-B-10 films. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4718573]}},
  author       = {{Höglund, Carina and Birch, Jens and Andersen, Ken and Bigault, Thierry and Buffet, Jean-Claude and Correa, Jonathan and van Esch, Patrick and Guerard, Bruno and Hall-Wilton, Richard and Jensen, Jens and Khaplanov, Anton and Piscitelli, Francesco and Vettier, Christian and Vollenberg, Wilhelmus and Hultman, Lars}},
  issn         = {{1931-9401}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{10}},
  publisher    = {{American Institute of Physics (AIP)}},
  series       = {{Applied Physics Reviews}},
  title        = {{B4C thin films for neutron detection}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4718573}},
  doi          = {{10.1063/1.4718573}},
  volume       = {{111}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}