Thermal desorption measurements of noble gas implanted copper

Thermal desorption measurements applied to copper are described. The role of the first-order rate equation and diffusive release are discussed. A critical review of the analysing methods based on first-order kinetics is presented. The facility used for the measurements is described in detail. The experimental results concentrate on the behaviour of noble gas implants in monocrystalline copper. In the case of helium, each peak observed in thermal desorption spectra can be associated with microscopic processes. The dissociation energy of helium in a monovacancy was found to be 2.0 ± 0.1 eV. The behaviour of argon and neon in copper turned out to be more complicated, and only tentative interpretations can be given. When low-energy helium implants were attempted to use for probing vacancies in copper, no clear evidence of helium-filled monovacancies was found. Therefore the interstitial mechanism was assumed to play a dominating role in the recovery of irradiation damages in copper.