Depth profiling of tritium by neutron time-of-flight

A method was developed to measure the depth profile of tritium implanted or absorbed in materials. The sample to be analyzed is bombarded with a pulsed proton beam and the energy of neutrons produced by the T(p,n) reaction is measured by the time-of-flight technique. From the neutron energy the depth in the target of the T atoms may be inferred. A sensitivity of 0.1 at. percent T or greater is possible. The technique is non-destructive and may be used with thick or radioactive host materials. Samples up to 20 μm in thickness may be profiled with resolution limited by straggling of the proton beam for depths greater than 1 μm. Deuterium depth profiling has been demonstrated using the D(d,n) reaction. The technique has been used to observe the behavior of an implantation spike of T produced by a 400 keV T+ beam stopping at a depth of 3 μm in 11 μm thick layers of Ti and TiH. The presence of H in the Ti lattice is observed to inhibit the diffusion of T through the lattice. Effects of the total hydrogen concentration (H + T) being forced above stoichiometry at the implantation site are suggested by the shapes of the implanation spikes