Thermal desorption behavior of helium in aged titanium tritide films

The desorption behavior of helium in TiT(1.5∼1.8)−x3Hex film samples (x = 0.0022-0.22) was investigated by thermal desorption technique in vacuum condition in this paper. The thermal helium desorption spectrometry (THDS) of aging titanium tritide films prepared by electron beam evaporation revealed that, depending on the decayed 3He concentration in the samples, there are more than four states of helium existing in the films. The divided four zones in THDS based on helium states represent respectively: (1) the mobile single helium atoms with low activation energy in all aging samples resulted from the interstitial sites or dissociated from interstitial clusters, loops and dislocations, (2) helium bubbles inside the grain lattices, (3) helium bubbles in the grain boundaries and interconnected networks of dislocations in the helium concentration of 3Hegen/Ti > 0.0094, and (4) helium bubbles near or linked to the film surface by interconnected channel for later aging stage with 3Hegen/Ti > 0.18. The proportion of helium desorption in each zone was estimated, and dissociated energies of helium for different trapping states were given.