Analysis of hydrogen isotopes in construction materials by means of electron spectroscopy

Abstract

Abstract The possibility of measuring hydrogen depth profiles by means of electron spectroscopy is demonstrated. In the near-surface layer with a thickness corresponding to the inelastic mean free path (IMFP) the elastic peak electron spectroscopy (EPES) is employed for this purpose. For measuring hydrogen isotope depth profiles deeper in the solid at depths corresponding to the transport mean free path (which is by several orders of magnitude larger than the IMFP) the so-called spectroscopy of reflected electrons (SRE) is used. In this work, the SRE technique is employed for the investigation of a pure beryllium sample and a beryllium sample implanted with deuterium atoms.