Formation of Thorium-disodium Fluoride Crystals by Electron-beam Evaporation

The technique of thin film forming of NaThxFy compounds on the Si (111) surface by electron-beam evaporation was developed. It is shown that the band gap of pure thorium fluoride is 6.7 eV; of sodium fluoride – 9.5 eV, while in compounds of thorium-sodium fluoride NaTh1.3F6.2 it takes the value 7.1 eV. It was found that prolonged electron beam exposure leads to the recovery of thorium fluoride followed by oxidation of thorium atoms.