Nanoscale coatings of tungsten by radio frequency plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition on graphite

Future thermonuclear fusion reactors including ITER are heading towards full scale operations with tungsten being the material for the divertor, limiter and probably the first wall too. Tungsten has several superior properties over its low Z competitors in terms of higher melting point, lower sputtering yield, low fuel retention (D - T) etc. So far, fusion experimentalists have gained enough experience and have rich databases with carbon as its first wall as well as target materials in tokamaks. However, database for tungsten line radiation in variety of plasmas i.e. basic laboratory scale to high density and high temperature plasmas is rare and this requires immediate attention to construct a database with experimental evidences. Such studies are not limited to only large scale fusion reactors but small and medium scale toroidally confined devices can be suitably utilized. Present day tokamaks are now switching to plasma facing components made up of tungsten. As the complete replacement of the wall and target materials from carbon to tungsten in existing tokamaks is challenging and time consuming exercise, tungsten coatings on selected target materials remains a very feasible option for the purpose. This paper will present the development of indigenous tungsten coating reactor which has successfully produced tungsten coated graphite tiles of sample dimensions. The tungsten coated graphite tiles are produced by RF plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition of tungsten on graphite substrates. The RF plasma is produced with 60 - 100 W power and tungsten nano ions are produced by dissociating the precursor gas tungsten hexa-fluoride (WF₆) in sufficient hydrogen background. Further, challenges in handling WF₆ plasma at high pressures and in-situ spectroscopy results during the coating process will be presented. (author)