Synergistic Effect of He for the Fabrication of Ne and Ar Gas-Charged Silicon Thin Films as Solid Targets for Spectroscopic Studies.

Sputtering of silicon in a He magnetron discharge (MS) has been reported as a bottom-up procedure to obtain He-charged silicon films (i.e., He nanobubbles encapsulated in a silicon matrix). The incorporation of heavier noble gases is demonstrated in this work with a synergistic effect, producing inc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Fernández, Asunción, Fortio Godinho, Vanda Cristina, Ávila, José, Jiménez de Haro, María del Carmen, Hufschmidt, Dirk, Lopez-Viejobueno, Jennifer, Ferrer Fernández, Francisco Javier, Asensio, M Carmen
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/168311
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/168311
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14080727
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:magnetron sputtering
gas-charged Si films
microstructural characterization
IBA analysis
XPS and XAS spectroscopic analyses
Ne
Ar and He solid targets
Descripción
Sumario:Sputtering of silicon in a He magnetron discharge (MS) has been reported as a bottom-up procedure to obtain He-charged silicon films (i.e., He nanobubbles encapsulated in a silicon matrix). The incorporation of heavier noble gases is demonstrated in this work with a synergistic effect, producing increased Ne and Ar incorporations when using He–Ne and He–Ar gas mixtures in the MS process. Microstructural and chemical characterizations are reported using ion beam analysis (IBA) and scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM). In addition to gas incorporation, He promotes the formation of larger nanobubbles. In the case of Ne, high-resolution X-ray photoelectron and absorption spectroscopies (XPS and XAS) are reported, with remarkable dependence of the Ne 1s photoemission and the Ne K-edge absorption on the nanobubble’s size and composition. The gas (He, Ne and Ar)-charged thin films are proposed as “solid” targets for the characterization of spectroscopic properties of noble gases in a confined state without the need for cryogenics or high-pressure anvils devices. Also, their use as targets for nuclear reaction studies is foreseen.