Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

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

Asunción Fernández
* ORCID logo ,
Vanda Godinho
ORCID logo ,
José Avila
ORCID logo ,
Maria Carmen Jiménez de Haro
ORCID logo ,
Dirk Hufschmidt
,
Jennifer López-Viejobueno
,
Gabriel Eduardo Almanza-Vergara
,
Francisco Javier Ferrer
ORCID logo ,
Julien L. Colaux
ORCID logo ,
Stéphane Lucas
,
Maria C. Asensio
Version 1 : Received: 18 March 2024 / Approved: 19 March 2024 / Online: 19 March 2024 (16:05:14 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Fernández, A.; Godinho, V.; Ávila, J.; Jiménez de Haro, M.C.; Hufschmidt, D.; López-Viejobueno, J.; Almanza-Vergara, G.E.; Ferrer, F.J.; Colaux, J.L.; Lucas, S.; Asensio, M.C. Synergistic Effect of He for the Fabrication of Ne and Ar Gas-Charged Silicon Thin Films as Solid Targets for Spectroscopic Studies. Nanomaterials 2024, 14, 727. Fernández, A.; Godinho, V.; Ávila, J.; Jiménez de Haro, M.C.; Hufschmidt, D.; López-Viejobueno, J.; Almanza-Vergara, G.E.; Ferrer, F.J.; Colaux, J.L.; Lucas, S.; Asensio, M.C. Synergistic Effect of He for the Fabrication of Ne and Ar Gas-Charged Silicon Thin Films as Solid Targets for Spectroscopic Studies. Nanomaterials 2024, 14, 727.

Abstract

: Sputtering of silicon in a Helium 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 by ion beam analysis (IBA) and scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM). In addition to gas incorporation, helium promotes the formation of larger nanobubbles. For 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 nanobubbles size and composition. The gas (He, Ne, 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.

Keywords

magnetron sputtering; gas-charged Si films; microstructural characterization; IBA analysis; XPS and XAS spectroscopic analyses; Ne, Ar and He solid targets

Subject

Chemistry and Materials Science, Surfaces, Coatings and Films

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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