Lateral variation measurement of helium concentration in implanted Al foils using a proton microbeam

As a continuation of a resear program aimed at studying the interaction of ion implanted helium with metals, this paper describes the use of a proton microbeam to look at lateral variation of helium concentration in 2 μm Al foils. Experiments to date have looked at the trapping of helium in 2000 Å films and the resulting film deformation as well as the spectroscopic properties of the implanted helium with the aim of better understanding blister formation mecsb give rise to a helium depleted zone, surrounding each blister, we use a proton microbeam on a helium implanted, blistered Al foil as a means of testing this hypothesis. Helium concentration is measured using elastic resonant proton backscattering at 2.2 MeV with a spatial resolution of 3 μm. Results and their significances to blister formation are presented.