Speaker
Linda Robinson
(ESS)
Description
Due to the urgent need for alternatives to 3He-based neutron detectors at large-scale neutron research facilities, a new generation of detectors uses thin films with a high neutron absorption cross section as the converting material. High quality thin films are essential ingredients in these detectors and are the subject of the research collaboration between the European Spallation Source (ESS) and the Thin Film Physics Division at Linköping University (LiU). The first choice of thin film material is 10B4C, which is deposited onto Al-blades or Si-wafers with the physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique DC magnetron sputtering (DCMS) . One full-scale large area detector at the ESS needs in total ~1000 m2 of two-side coated Al-blades with ~1 um thick 10B4C films. This presentation will discuss the tough demands on film purity and thickness uniformities and the challenge to upscale the process in order to have the first detectors ready for use at the ESS already at the end of this decade. In the context of this challenge, ESS has recently commissioned a deposition facility, adjacent to Linkoping University, based upon industrial techniques to provide the volume of coatings required for this strategic material. A wide variety of coatings have already been provided to the community developing novel neutron detectors; examples are shown. In particular, the ongoing work on expanding and qualifying the list of substrates on which such depositions can be made is shown, with glass taken as an example.
