Investigation of decay of freezed nonequilibrium state of indium films with high hydrogen concentration

The electron diffraction studies are carried out on indium films deposited in hydrogen atmosphere (at pressures Psub(Hsub(2))=1.4x10-5 - 1.0x10-4 Torr) on a substrate cooled by liquid hellium down to approximately 3.5 or approximately 4.5 K. The measurements of interplane distances make it possible to calculate hydrogen concentration in crystallites. The dissolved hydrogen is found to produce a reduction in tetragonal distortion of indium lattice till it becomes completely cubic. Primary consideration is given to the problem of decay of nonequilibrium phase In(H) with high hydrogen concentration stabilized an external layer of solid hydrogen. The original state of phase In(H) is found to be labile, and spinodal nature. Internal film stresses resulting from the spinodal decay are considered. Both a homogeneous compression of the whole film and the appearance of inhomogeneous microstresses balanced with separate crystallites are observed. The data indicate that at low temperatures (<5 K) the mobility of hydrogen in indium films is very high