Influence of the bias voltage on the formation of beryllium films by a thermionic vacuum arc method

Beryllium is intended to be used as suggested material for the first wall in the thermonuclear power plants. Some tiles of the first wall will be of inconel coated by a beryllium layer that must be adherent to the substrate and have a compact structure in order to resist as much as possible the dramatic interaction with the high energetic plasma particles, ions, electrons and neutrons. Applying bias voltages (−200 to + 700 V) on the substrates, the morphology of the prepared Be layers using the original thermionic vacuum arc method developed at NILPRP was controlled in order to obtain smooth surfaces, free of holes and lamellar structures. The prepared films were studied and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Auger spectroscopy (AES). The films prepared using negative bias voltages were found to be more compact and smooth with an average roughness (Rms) of 7 nm.