Local Electrochemical Deposition of Thorium on SiO2/Si(111) Surface

The paper presents the results of the study of local formation of thorium oxide coatings on SiO2/Si(111) surface by electrochemical deposition. It was found that the electrochemical deposition of thorium atoms from thorium nitrate solution of Th(NO3)4 with the presence of water on silicon surface results in local formation of thorium compounds. The results of surface analysis by local XPS indicate that these compounds represent a thorium-, silicon-, oxygen- and carbon-based compounds. After 6 hours annealing at 600 °C at atmosphere carbon pulled completely, and the cluster formed film consists of oxygen and thorium only. It was shown that this system can be promising for further research of nuclear low-lying isomeric transition in 229Th isotope when irradiated by an electron beam.