Aluminum and iron surface modification by deuterium ion implantation and thermal desorption process

Fe and Al thin films were implanted at room temperature with 20 keV D2 ions at 3×1016 ions/cm2 fluence. The correlation between the effusion of the implanted deuterium and the evolution of the surface morphology was studied by thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Deuterium effusion from Fe thin films occurs at ∼430 K and is controlled by the D2 surface recombination process. The deuterium effusion profile from Al thin films appears more structured. SEM analysis reveals blisters in the as-implanted samples and the increase of their number density and size up to a temperature of ∼500 K. TDS analysis indicates effusion of parts of the implanted deuterium in the 500–600 K temperature range: deuterium is released from the blisters as indicated by the decrease of their number density and size observed by SEM in this temperature interval. The major part of deuterium effuses at ∼630 K and the effusion process is controlled by the migration of deuterium through the surface oxide layer: the effusion process has an activation energy of 1.8±0.1 eV which is very close to the activation energy for deuterium diffusion in γ-Al2O3. The deuterium effusion kinetics from Fe–Al multilayers is nearly the same as in Fe thin film samples.