Deuterium trapping in helium-implanted nickel

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Abstract
By means of ion‐beam‐analysis techniques, the trapping of deuterium implanted into nickel preimplanted with helium was investigated in the temperature range 100–500 K. Following room‐temperature helium implantations and deuterium implantations at ∼100 K, linear‐ramp annealing (1–2 K/min) was carried out, while the deuterium concentration within the near‐surface region (0–0.5 μm) was monitored by use of the nuclear reaction D(3He,α)1 H. The release curves were analyzed by solving a diffusion equation with the appropriate trapping terms. In addition to trapping by lattice defects, stronger helium‐associated traps were found with a binding enthalpy of 0.55±0.05 eV relative to a solution site. We propose that the responsible entities are small helium bubbles observed in the implanted material by transmission electron microscopy.