SIMS as a new methodology to depth profile helium in as-implanted and annealed pure bcc metals?

Reliable He profiles are highly desirable for better understanding helium behavior in materials for future nuclear applications. Recently, Secondary Ions Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) allowed the characterization of helium distribution in as-implanted metallic systems. The Cs+ primary ion beam coupled with CsHe+ molecular detector appeared to be a promising technique which overcomes the very high He ionization potential. In this study, 4He depth profiles in pure body centered cubic (bcc) metals (V, Fe, Ta, Nb and Mo) as-implanted and annealed, were obtained by SIMS. All as-implanted samples exhibited a projected range of around 200nm, in agreement with SRIM theoretical calculations. After annealing treatment, SIMS measurements evidenced the evolution of helium depth profile with temperature. The latter SIMS results were compared to the helium bubble distribution obtained by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). This study confirmed the great potential of this experimental procedure as a He-depth profiling technique in bcc metals. Indeed, the methodology described in this work could be extended to other materials including metallic and non-metallic compounds. Nevertheless, the quantification of helium concentration after annealing treatment by SIMS remains uncertain probably due to the non-uniform ionization efficiency in samples containing large bubbles.