Abstract:

The formation and dissociation of Er deuteride grains were investigated by using scanning electron microscopy, in-situ X-ray diffraction and thermal desorption spectroscopy. Pure Er film shows classic columnar structure, while the Er deuteride film was observed as bamboo-like morphology. The in-situ X-ray diffraction results demonstrate that the diffraction peaks of 27.39°, 28.43°, 31.71°, and 39.95° are ascribed to the crystal planes of (002), (110), (111), and (112) of ErD₃ phase, respectively. It is also confirmed that by in-situ X-ray diffraction technique, ErD₃ grains would be dissociated at temperature exceeding 400 °C. This result is consistent with the conclusion obtained by thermal desorption spectroscopy.

Key words: Erbium deuteride, Bamboo-like morphology, ErD₃, Phase transformation, X-ray diffraction