Production and characterization of thin film group IIIB, IVB and rare earth hydrides by reactive evaporation
Authors: Provo James L. 
Published: June 2015

A recent short history of reactive evaporation by D. M. Mattox [History Corner—A Short History of Reactive Evaporation, SVC Bulletin (Society of Vacuum Coaters, Spring 2014), p. 50–51] describes various methods for producing oxides, nitrides, carbides, and some compounds, but hydrides were not mentioned. A study was performed in the mid-1970s at the General Electric Company Neutron Devices Department in Largo, FL, by the author to study preparation of thin film hydrides using reactive evaporation and to determine their unique characteristics and properties. Films were produced of scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), titanium (Ti), zirconium (Zr), and the rare earth praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), gadolinium (Gd), dysprosium (Dy), and erbium (Er) hydrides by hot crucible filament and electron beam evaporation in atmospheres of deuterium and tritium gases. All-metal vacuum systems were used and those used with tritium were dedicated for this processing. Thin film test samples 1000 nm thick were prepared on 1.27 cm diameter molybdenum disk substrates for each occluder (i.e., an element that can react with hydrogen to form a hydride) material. Loading characteristics as determined by gas-to-metal atomic ratios, oxidation characteristics as determined by argon–sputter Auger analysis, film structure as determined by scanning electron microscope analysis, and film stress properties as determined by a double resonator technique were used to define properties of interest. Results showed hydrogen-to-metal atomic ratios varied from 1.5 to 2.0 with near maximum loading for all but Pr and Nd occluders which correlated with the oxidation levels observed, with all occluder oxidation levels being variable due to vacuum system internal processing conditions and the materials used. Surface oxide levels varied from ∼80 Å to over 1000 Å. For most films studied, results showed that a maximum loading ratio of near 2.0 and a minimum surface oxide level of ∼80 Å could be obtained with a bulk film oxygen level of ∼0.54 oxygen as determined by microprobe analysis when an evaporation rate of ∼0.313 mg/cm2 min was used in an atmosphere of D2 or T2 gas at a system deposition pressure of 1 × 10−3 Torr (1.33 × 10−1 Pa) in an evaporation time of ∼2 min. Platelet type (i.e., a film microstructure showing an overlay of flat plates with large grain sizes) film structures were observed for most films with some film mechanical properties determined (i.e., grain size and Vickers μ-hardness), and reduced stress levels were seen with initial normalized differential (tensile) stress levels being (1.0–4.0) × 108 dyne/cm2 for tritium loaded samples and (1.5 ± 0.5) × 109 dyne/cm2 for deuterium loaded samples. Also, stress aging characteristics were determined for some hydride films prepared in a radioactive tritium gas atmosphere. Tritium loading, however, had the undesirable characteristic of having to dispose of the internal processing system fixtures, which can be minimized, but the reactive evaporation technique produced desirable thin films.