Optical Instruments, Volume. 46, Issue 2, 63(2024)

Structural and component analysis of boron carbide films prepared by magnetron sputtering

Jingtao ZHU1, Yang LIU1,2, Jianrong ZHOU2,3、*, Xiaojuan ZHOU2,3, Zhijia SUN2,3, and Mingqi CUI3
Author Affiliations
  • 1School of Physical and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
  • 2Spallation Neutron Source Science Center, Dongguan 523803, China
  • 3Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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    In recent years, the world’s shortage of 3He resources has led to the high cost of 3He neutron detectors. The boron-based neutron detectors using boron carbide films as neutron conversion layers have gradually become the most promising alternative. In this paper, we prepared Ti/B4C multilayers using direct current magnetron sputtering method. The structure and composition of the films were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results show that there is crystallization in the Ti layer. H, O, N are the main impurities in the films, and are mainly distributed in the Ti layer and B4C-on-Ti transition layer. Higher base pressure can reduce the impurity content and increase the proportion of B content in the boron carbide films, thus improving the neutron conversion efficiency of the films. The results of neutron detection efficiency test prove that the high base pressure can effectively improve the efficiency of boron carbide neutron conversion layers.

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    Jingtao ZHU, Yang LIU, Jianrong ZHOU, Xiaojuan ZHOU, Zhijia SUN, Mingqi CUI. Structural and component analysis of boron carbide films prepared by magnetron sputtering[J]. Optical Instruments, 2024, 46(2): 63

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    Paper Information

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    Received: Mar. 13, 2023

    Accepted: --

    Published Online: Apr. 30, 2024

    The Author Email: ZHOU Jianrong (zhoujr@ihep.ac.cn)

    DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1005-5630.202303130055

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