Helium mobility in SON68 borosilicate nuclear glass: A nuclear reaction analysis approach

The 3He behavior in the non active R7T7 type borosilicate glass called SON68 has been investigated using the implantation method to introduce helium in the material. Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) was performed to follow the helium concentration depth profile evolution as a function of annealing time and temperature. In addition, in situ Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) has been implemented to study the formation of helium bubbles during both implantation and annealing processes. Numerical modeling with two different approaches is proposed and discussed to investigate the helium mobility mechanisms. Our study reveals for helium incorporation by implantation at low temperature the presence of several helium populations with disparate diffusivities. The most mobile helium fraction would be attributed to atomic diffusion. The corresponding activation energy value (0.61 eV) extracted from Arrhenius graphs is in good agreement with literature data. The results also highlight that the damages associated to helium sursaturation are the source of small helium clusters formation, with a reduced mobility instead of the atomic mobility measured by the infusion technique. Small cavities that support this assumption have been observed by TEM at low temperature.