Abstract:
Metallic uranium has the characteristic of high efficiency of laser to X-ray energy conversion. The ultra-high vacuum pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) system was used to prepare Au film, U film and Au/U/Au multilayer film on single Si(100) substrate to prevent the oxidation of uranium. The SEM pictures show that there are spherical metal droplets with diameters less than several microns on the Au and U film surface prepared by PLD under present technology. The surface roughness
Ra of less droplet region is less than 1 nm, and the big droplet containing region is less than 15 nm. The amount of droplet on U film surface is much more than Au film surface under the same deposition condition. The Au/U/Au multilayer film with thickness about 195 nm and
Rq between 0.3-1.5 nm was prepared after PLD technology optimization. AES depth profile results reveal that the oxygen content in Au/U/Au multilayer film is less than 5% (atomic percentage), and uranium remains in metal chemical state. It may be effective to reduce the number and size of droplets by reducing the laser power, increasing the distance of target from the substrate and appropriately rising the substrate temperature.