Study of the nuclear phenomena in the low energy (60-360 keV) proton beam implantation on metals^*

A series of studies on the nuclear interaction and its effects in solids during proton implantation were performed in the energy region between 60 and 360keV. Some charged particle products were observed in the implantation experiments on metal samples such as deuterated titanium, titanium alloy, titanium foil on molybdenum substrate, molybdenum and stainless steel, etc.. The energies of the charged particle products are about 3.9, 5.6 and 8.4MeV, respectively. These particles were identified as alpha particles with both detector telescope and absorption measurements. These three kinds of alpha products were found from different proton sub-barrier reactions. The exciting curve of this reaction increases exponentially with the growth of proton energy in the energy region from 90 to 330keV. The radiation damages induced by the nuclear products in the sample have been studied with scanning electron microscopy technique. The possible surface damages induced by them were observed evidently. The origin of the nuclear reactions and their effect on implantation are discussed.