Investigations on carbon stripper foils produced in a DC glow discharge

Carbon stripper foils produced by cracking hydrocarbon gases are known to have a much longer lifetime during heavy ion bombardment than foils made by the evaporation of carbon. The lifetime of cracked foils installed in the terminal of the Heidelberg MP-tandem was improved by up to a factor of 30. Crystallographic structure from electron diffraction, hydrogen content, electrical conductivity and the density have been determined to reveal characteristic differences between cracked and evaporated foils. (orig.)