Sputtering of boron-doped graphite USB15—Investigation of the origin of low chemical erosion

Abstract

The changes in surface composition of USB15—a boron doped graphite containing 15 wt.% of boron—during bombardment with D ions were determined by in situ Auger electron spectroscopy at temperatures from 300 up to 1000 K. For energies above 100 eV no strong increase of the boron surface concentration could be observed even around 800 K, i.e., at the maximum for chemical erosion of pure graphite. Chemical factor analysis of the carbon Auger peak in this energy‐regime results in a much larger carbidic fraction of carbon atoms than suspected from the boron content of 15%. Thus, boron influences much more carbon atoms in their chemical reactivity with deuterium ions than is expected for the stoichiometric B₄C precipitates. For ion energies below 100 eV a strong increase of boron surface concentration with decreasing ion energy at room temperature was observed. The chemical erosion of carbon in this energy regime is not suppressed by boron doping and indicates a different, surface related release process of hydrocarbon molecules.