Apparatus for measuring the stopping power of active materials evaporated in situ and characterized by Auger electron spectrometry and Rutherford backscattering

An ultrahigh-vacuum scattering chamber working in the low 10-9-mbar range is described. It is attached to a standard O-ring sealed beam transport system of an electrostatic accelerator. Twelve targets can be prepared in situ, one by one, by evaporating the material onto backings, which are mounted on tiltable target holders on a wheel. Backscattering spectra are obtained from these targets and the stopping cross section is deduced from their widths. A cooled high-resolution surface barrier detector is used for this purpose. The integral concentrations of light impurities in the target are obtained using Rutherford backscattering (RBS), whereas Auger electron spectrometry (AES) together with a sputtering device is used to determine the depth composition. As a test of the assembly we determined the stopping power of aluminum for protons and deuterons, respectively. The results are compared to published tables based upon fits to experiments. The influence of impurities on the result is discussed for an aluminum target prepared under standard evaporation conditions