10 B-based films grown by pulsed laser deposition for neutron conversion applications
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S.I.: CURRENT STATE-OF-THE-ART IN LASER ABLATION
10
B‑based films grown by pulsed laser deposition for neutron conversion applications
Maura Cesaria1 · Antonella Lorusso1,2 · Anna Paola Caricato1,2 · Paolo Finocchiaro3 · Simone Amaducci3,4 · Maurizio Martino1,2 · Muhammad Rizwan Aziz1 · Lucio Calcagnile2,5 · Alessio Perrone1,2 · Gianluca Quarta2,5 Received: 9 October 2019 / Accepted: 9 April 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Solid-state neutron detectors exploit nuclear interactions producing energetic charged particles within a converter layer embedding nuclei with high neutron capture cross section and with thickness compatible with the charged particle range. Recently, boron-10 (10B) is being considered as a valid alternative to the expensive and decreasingly available 3He gas thanks to its large neutron absorption cross section and high-energy reaction products. Minimized amounts of impurities, films with optimal and well-controlled thickness, good uniformity over large areas and good adhesion to the substrates are essential to achieve efficient neutron detection performance. In this study, we present well-adherent 1-µm-thick 10B-enriched boron coatings, deposited over a large area by off-axis pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using a nanosecond Nd-YAG laser beam operating at 1064 nm and high fluence (~ 10 J/cm2), onto 1-mm-thick Al substrate as well as smooth and rough C substrates. By combining plasma plume divergence and peaked profile under off-axis deposition geometry, uniform10B films were obtained over an area of a 3.4 × 3.4 cm2. We discuss the morphological characteristics of our deposits as related to the mechanisms of nanosecond laser ablation and present energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) elemental analysis of the film, paying attention to the different surface features. Negligible presence of O, N and C contaminants was achieved by controlled vacuum conditions. Moreover, we present encouraging neutron detection performances of our film deposited onto Al. Keywords Solid neutron-to-charge converter · Boron coatings · Pulsed laser deposition · Boron enrichment · Textured substrate
1 Introduction Early studies of boron (B) date back to two centuries ago and point out the ability of boron to combine with almost any element to form compounds [1]. The first report on pure * Anna Paola Caricato [email protected] 1
Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio De Giorgi”, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
2
National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), Lecce, Italy
3
National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) ‑ Laboratori Nazionali del Sud, Catania, Italy
4
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Catania, Catania, Italy
5
Centre of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics (CEDAD), Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio De Giorgi”, University of Salento, Lecce, Italy
boron in 1957 [2] documented a very complex structure which is nowadays known to have the most varied polymorphs (at least sixteen) including inter
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