Micro-Raman investigation of X or γ irradiated Ge doped fibers

Micro-Raman spectra have been recorded on Ge doped optical fibers before and after 10 keV-X or γ-ray irradiation up to doses of 1 MGy (X-ray) or 7.8 MGy (γ-ray). Our data provide evidence that, at such dose levels, the glass matrix is not modified in a detectable way. We observed that varying the Ge doping levels from 0 to about 11 wt.%, X or γ radiation sensitivity of the overall matrix remains unchanged. Such results are observed for fibers obtained with drawing conditions within the usual range used for the fabrication of specialty fibers as radiation-tolerant waveguides. Our data support the potentiality of fiber-based sensors using glass properties, e.g. Raman scattering, for applications in harsh environments as those encountered in nuclear power plants.     

Use of a line focus of a quadrupole multiplet for irradiating millimeter length lines

We have developed a new method of irradiation suitable for uniformly irradiating long, straight lines for waveguide and channel fabrication in semiconductors and polymers. This is achieved by exciting the quadrupole lenses of a nuclear microprobe in a manner such that the beam is focused in one plane but highly defocused in the orthogonal plane. This method requires no surface mask and since the beam is not scanned, it produces uniformly-irradiated patterns. This approach has been used for rapid exposure of lines 8 mm in length with widths of about 3 μm in silicon and 1.5 μm in polymethyl methacrylate.     

Formation of dislocation loops in silicon by ion irradiation for silicon light emitting diodes

We have studied the influence of the ion species, ion energy, fluence, irradiation temperature and post-implantation annealing on the formation of shallow dislocation loops in silicon, for fabrication of silicon light emitting diodes. The substrates used were (1 0 0) Si, implanted with 20-80 keV boron at room temperature and 75-175 keV silicon at 100 and 200 °C. The implanted fluences were from 5 × 10¹⁴ to 1 × 10¹⁵ ions/cm². After irradiation the samples were processed for 15 s to 20 min at 950 °C by rapid thermal annealing. Structural analysis of the samples was done by transmission electron microscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. In all irradiations the silicon substrates were not amorphized, and that resulted in the formation of extrinsic perfect and faulted dislocation loops with Burgers vectors a/2〈1 1 0〉 and a/3〈1 1 1〉, respectively, sitting in {1 1 1} habit planes. It was demonstrated that by varying the ion implantation parameters and post-irradiation annealing, it is possible to form various shapes, concentration and distribution of dislocation loops in silicon.     

Defect characterization in boron implanted silicon after flash annealing

Flash-assisted rapid thermal processing (fRTP) has gained considerable interests for fabrication of ultra-shallow junction in silicon. fRTP can significantly reduce boron diffusion, while attaining boron activation at levels beyond the limits of traditional rapid thermal annealing. The efficiency of fRTP for defect annealing, however, needs to be systematically explored. In this study, a (1 0 0) silicon wafer was implanted with 500 eV boron ions to a fluence of 1 × 10¹⁵ cm⁻². fRTP was performed with peak temperatures ranging from 1100 °C to 1300 °C for approximately one milli-second. High resolution transmission electron microscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry were performed to characterize as-implanted and annealed samples. The study shows that fRTP at 1250 °C can effectively anneal defects without causing boron tail diffusion.     

Micromachining of amplitude and phase modulated reflective computer generated hologram patterns in silicon

Silicon has been machined on lateral resolutions of micrometers and on depth resolutions of nanometers using a recently-developed process based on ion irradiation and electrochemical anodisation. Here we investigate its use as a recording medium for computer generated hologram patterns. We describe the fabrication of both amplitude and phase binary modulated reflective computer generated hologram patterns on a silicon surface with pixel sizes of 5 μm. We further discuss the use of micromachined silicon to variably modulate both amplitude and phase in a continuous, rather than a binary fashion.     

The fabrication of planar waveguides on Bi12TiO20 crystals by oxygen and helium ion implantation

We report the first fabrication and characterization of optical planar waveguides in Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ crystals by ion implantation. For comparison we selected O²⁺ and He⁺ as our implanted ions. The loss value of the oxygen-implanted planar waveguide is reduced to 1.24 dB/cm after annealing at 260 °C for 30 min. The guided-mode profiles are successfully modeled through numerical simulations.     

Design criteria and current status of LHCD system on SST1 machine

The lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) system for superconducting steady state tokamak-1 (SST-1) machine is in advanced stage of integration and commissioning. The system is designed to launch 1 MW of RF power at a frequency of 3.7 GHz to sustain 220 kA of plasma current non-inductively for 1000 s. The system employs a conventional grill antenna (having 2 × 32 waveguides), vacuum and air transmission lines and high power source system. A new design for vacuum transmission line, which enables better vacuum and RF compatibility has been successfully executed and tested. The transition from the narrow waveguide to WR284 waveguide system is achieved through a simple design, having stacks of copper plates with the waveguides milled in them, referred as transforming module and is successfully tested for mechanical, vacuum and RF performance. Many of the critical components have been successfully fabricated and tested as per the designs. The components and sub-systems are made ready and the integration is in progress. All the components are actively cooled and are compatible with 1000 s operation.The performance tests and current status of various sub assemblies and partially integrated LHCD system is discussed in detail in this paper.     

A study on swift (∼100 MeV) heavy ion irradiated Ni films on Si substrates

Ni thin films (∼50 nm) on silicon substrates have been irradiated from 100 MeV swift heavy ions of Fe⁷⁺ with a fluence of 10¹² ions cm⁻². SEM studies show a nice feature of interwoven grains which looks like a knitted network which has been resolved as a spherical grainy structure from AFM studies. Chemical phase identification of the grains has been done from XRD studies and it is found that there is a formation of the Ni₂Si silicide phase having average grain size of ∼70 nm. The devices have also been characterized from I-V characteristics before and after the irradiation at varying temperature from LN₂ to room temperature. The current across the irradiated interface has increased by two orders of magnitude as compared to the unirradiated ones and show a nearly temperature independent behaviour. MR (magnetoresistance) has been studied from the current flow data in magnetic fields up to 10 kG. Unirradiated devices do not show any effect on current transport in external magnetic field. M-H characteristics of the irradiated devices show the typical magnetic behaviour of nano particles like superparamagnetic behaviour. The MR features has been related to the M-H variations. The observed results show the formation of magnetic nano grains due to interfacial intermixing in these devices of Ni/n-Si. The role of swift heavy ions for nano grain fabrication has been discussed and the observed properties have been understood by considering the formation of a nano magnetic granular phase.     

Track-etched nanopores in spin-coated polycarbonate films applied as sputtering mask

Thin polycarbonate films were spin-coated on silicon substrates and subsequently irradiated with 1-GeV U ions. The ion tracks in the polymer layer were chemically etched yielding nanopores of about 40 nm diameter. In a second process, the nanoporous polymer film acted as mask for structuring the Si substrate underneath. Sputtering with 5-keV Xe ions produced surface craters of depth ∼150 nm and diameter ∼80 nm. This arrangement can be used for the fabrication of track-based nanostructures with self-aligned apertures.     

Heavy ion beam micromachining on LiNbO3

In this work 3D micromachining of x-cut lithium niobate crystals was performed using the high energy heavy ion microbeam (HIM) at the Tandar Laboratory, Buenos Aires. The samples were machined using ³⁵Cl beams at 70 MeV bombarding energy combined with wet etching with hydrofluoric acid solutions at room temperature. As the ion beam penetrates the sample, it induces lattice damage increasing dramatically the local etching rate of the material. This technique was applied to the fabrication of 3D waveguides with long control electrodes. The resulting structures indicate that well defined contours with nearly vertical sidewalls can be made. The results also show that with fluences of only 5 × 10¹² ions/cm², this technique is suitable for the fabrication of different shapes of LiNbO₃ control-waveguides that can be used in different optical devices and matched with the existing optical fibers.     

Formation of InAs nanocrystals in Si by high-fluence ion implantation

We have studied the formation of InAs precipitates with dimensions of several nanometers in silicon by means of As (245 keV, 5 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻²) and In (350 keV, 4.5 × 10¹⁶ cm⁻²) implantation at 500 °C and subsequent annealing at 900 °C for 45 min. RBS, SIMS, TEM/TED, RS and PL techniques were used to characterize the implanted layers. The surface density of the precipitates has been found to be about 1.2 × 10¹¹ cm⁻². Most of the crystallites are from 3 nm to 6 nm large. A band at 1.3 μm has been registered in the low-temperature PL spectra of (As + In) implanted and annealed silicon crystals. The PL band position follows the quantum confinement model for InAs.     

The design and the manufacturing process of the superconducting toroidal field magnet system for EAST device

The toroidal field (TF) magnet system of EAST (HT-7U), which consists of 16 superconducting coils enclosed in steel cases, has been manufactured to generate the magnetic field of 3.5 T at the plasma center to maintain plasma in a tokamak configuration with a current up to 1 MA. The TF coils have an approximately D-shape geometry of 2.6 m wide and 4.0 m high, and operate at a maximum field of 5.8 T. The conductor used in the TF coil is NbTi/Cu cable-in conduit (CIC) conductor, and its operating current is 14.3 kA.In March 2006, the first cooling down of the EAST device has been carried out successfully. The total of TF magnet system has been cooled down from room temperature to 4.5 K, and the TF system has been energized up to 8.2 kA with 5 A/s ramp rate. In September 2006, full performances of the TF magnet system have been reached, and the device of EAST has delivered its first plasma. In addition, the TF magnet system has been routinely operated with a current maintained constant on a whole day basis, for a preliminary program of more than 500 shots.In this paper, the main parts of the design, developmental tests, and the fabrication and assembly of TF coils are described in detail.     

Large-area and high-density silicon nanocone arrays by Ar sputtering at room temperature

The large-area, high-density of ∼1-2 × 10⁹/cm² silicon nanocone arrays by ion-irradiation with incident angle of 75° have been achieved by using carbon-cone-mask. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that the width of silicon nanocones is ∼150 nm and the height is ∼400 nm. The investigation of SEM shows that the formation of the silicon nanocones proceeds through three periods, carbon nanocones-nanocones with carbon on the top and silicon at the bottom-silicon nanocones.     

Synthesis & fabrication of lithium-titanate pebbles for ITER breeding blanket by solid state reaction & spherodization

⁶Li produces tritium by (n, α) nuclear reaction, ⁶Li + ¹n → ⁴He + ³H. Lithium titanate (Li₂TiO₃) enriched with ⁶Li, is the most promising candidate for solid test blanket module (TBM) material for fusion reactors. Various processes are reported in literature for the fabrication of Li₂TiO₃ pebbles for its use as TBM material. A process has been developed based on the solid state reaction of lithium-carbonate and titanium-dioxide for the synthesis of lithium titanate and pebble fabrication by extrusion, spherodization and sintering. This paper discusses the sequence of steps followed in this process and the properties obtained. Analytical grade titanium-dioxide and lithium-carbonate were taken in stoichiometric ratio and were milled to ensure thorough intimate mixing and obtain fine particles less than 45 μm before its calcination at 900 °C. Following calcination, the agglomerated product was again milled to fine particles of size less than 45 μm. Aqueous solution of ploy-vinyl-alcohol was added as binder prior to its feeding in the extruder. The extruded strips were spherodized and spherical pebbles were dried and sintered at 900 °C for different duration. Pebbles of desired density and porosity were obtained by suitable combination of sintering temperature and duration of sintering. Properties of the prepared pebbles were also characterized for sphericity, pore size distribution, grain size, crushing load strength, etc. The values were found to be conforming to the desired properties for use as solid breeder. The attractive feature of this process is almost no waste generation.     

The effects of the annealing time on helium implantation in Si

The modifications induced in silicon samples by helium implantation before and after isothermal annealing at 673 K have been investigated. The surface morphology has been detected by atomic force microscopy. A hillock structure is observed on the sample surface before and after annealing for 5-10 min. Surface blister formation is observed with an increasing annealing time. The variation of crystal damage with annealing time has been investigated by Rutherford backscattering/channeling. The intensity of the damage peak first increases with annealing time, reaches maximum at an annealing time of 60 min and then decreases. Helium-induced bubbles and residual defects have been observed by transmission electron microscopy, which shows that dislocations are close to the bubbles.     

Volume reflection observations in bent crystals with 13 GeV/c particles

The article presents the results on the investigation of the channeling and volume reflection effects in a bent silicon crystal with 13 GeV/c positive and negative hadrons (mainly π+, p and π−) at the CERN PS T9 line. In particular, this is the first study carried out on volume reflection at this energy providing a deflection angle of 69.4 ± 4.7 μrad and an efficiency of 92.7 ± 3.3%, with positive particles.The measurements have been carried out on a bent silicon strip crystal, using a high precision tracking system based on microstrip silicon detectors; this setup is allowed to trigger on the desired beam portion and to select the incoming particle angular range. The article presents a brief introduction on the bent crystal phenomena, the experimental setup and the results of the measurements.     

Planar channeling experiments with electrons at the 855 MeV Mainz Microtron MAMI

Planar channeling has been studied for silicon single crystals at a beam energy of 855 MeV at the Mainz Microtron MAMI. Complex channeling patterns were observed from which the crystal orientation can unambiguously be determined. Photon spectra at (1 0 0), (1 1 0) and (1 1 1) planar channeling were recorded with a 10″ × 10″ NaI detector. The planar (1 1 0) channeling process has been studied as function of the crystal thickness in the range between 7.9 and 270 μm from which a dechanneling length of 18.0 μm and the thickness dependent rechanneling lengths were deduced, employing solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation. A signal derived from high energy bremsstrahlung exhibits a characteristic length of (32 ± 4) μm which is tentatively interpreted as the occupation length of the lowest quantum states in the planar potential. Prospects are discussed to exploit channeling of high energy electrons in periodically bent silicon single crystals for production of radiation in the hundreds keV to multi MeV range.     

Proton beam induced luminescence of silicon dioxide implanted with silicon

Light emission from a silicon dioxide layer enriched with silicon has been studied. Samples used had structures made on thermally oxidized silicon substrate wafers. Excess silicon atoms were introduced into a 250-nm-thick silicon dioxide layer via implantation of 60 keV Si⁺ ions up to a fluence of 2 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻². A 15-nm-thick Au layer was used as a top semitransparent electrode. Continuous blue light emission was observed under DC polarization of the structure at 8-12 MV/cm. The blue light emission from the structures was also observed in an ionoluminescence experiment, in which the light emission was caused by irradiation with a H₂⁺ ion beam of energy between 22 and 100 keV. In the case of H₂⁺, on entering the material the ions dissociated into two protons, each carrying on average half of the incident ion energy. The spectra of the emitted light and the dependence of ionoluminescence on proton energy were analyzed and the results were correlated with the concentration profile of implanted silicon atoms.     

Development of a high intensity Al beam from SiC targets for accelerated beam experiments at ISAC

An intense beam of ^26gAl has been developed for accelerated beam experiments at TRIUMF’s ISAC facility. Studies of the on-line production of Al radionuclides from thick silicon carbide targets have been performed as part of a program of beam development for astrophysical reaction studies at ISAC. While the release of short-lived Al nuclides from SiC was found to be slow, development of new target material forms and high-power target containers has allowed operation of SiC targets with proton currents of up to 70 μA on target. In addition, operation with the TRIUMF resonant ionization laser ion source (TRILIS) has produced ^26gAl beam intensities of 5.1 × 10¹⁰ s⁻¹.     

Young’s modulus measurements of SiC coatings on spherical particles by using nanoindentation

Spherical silicon carbide coatings are deposited by fluidised bed chemical vapour deposition for the application to Tristructural Isotropic (TRISO) coated fuel particles. The silicon carbide exhibits columnar structure and grows along the radial direction during deposition. In this work, two measurements are made with nanoindentation, one is measured vertically to the grain growth direction, which gives a Young’s modulus of 391.1 ± 12.9 GPa, and the other is measured along the grain growth direction which gives a Young’s modulus of 442.5 ± 13.3 GPa. Finite element analysis and a theoretical effort are introduced to estimate the bending contribution when the indentation is carried out on the external surface of SiC. The relationship between grain orientation of SiC and its Young’s modulus has been examined.