Ion-induced deuterium retention in tungsten coatings on carbon substrate

Deuterium retention in different tungsten (W) coatings on carbon substrates was investigated for various incident ion energies ranging from 20 to 200 eV per deuterium atom and fluences ranging from 1 × 1023 m−2 to 2 × 1025 m−2. The targets were irradiated by deuterium ions at the IPP laboratory with a mass-separated ion beam with a flux of 1019 D/m2 s and with a deuterium plasma providing a flux of 1020 D/m2 s. Irradiation has been done at different sample temperatures ranging from 320 to 650 K. The depth profile of deuterium in the W coatings was measured up to 6 μm depth by nuclear reaction analysis (NRA) and the total retained amount was determined by thermal desorption spectroscopy. It is shown that deuterium retention significantly depends on the microstructure of each W coating. The deuterium retention in W coating of 7 μm thickness produced by combined magnetron-sputtering and ion implantation technique is higher compared to physical vapour deposited W coating of 4–5 μm thickness and 200 μm thickness plasma-sprayed W coating for all investigated energies and sample temperatures up to 650 K.