| AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Actinides and Rare Earths Topical Conference | Monday Sessions |
| Session AC+TF-MoA |
| Session: | Actinide and Rare Earths Thin Films |
| Presenter: | H. Dumais, Brigham Young University |
| Authors: | H. Dumais, Brigham Young University D.D. Allred, Brigham Young University R.S. Turley, Brigham Young University |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Uranium thin films have found a variety of uses: such as EUV mirrors for space application and driver layers on inertial confinement fusion microspheres. Uranium is chemically active and an unprotected surface oxidizes quickly. More is known about the oxidation of bulk than thin films. We have investigated the oxidation of uranium thin films and reactively sputtered uranium oxide films using spectroscopic ellipsometry, electron microscopy and XPS. We find that uranium magnetron sputtered (1-10 mtorr) in Ar/oxygen forms a UO2 (fcc-structure) over a range of O2 partial pressures. It is reasonably stable in air for several hours. On the other hand, thin uranium films (20nm) left to oxidize in air forms a higher oxide, probably U3O8. This observation may help interpret EUV optical data previously made on uranium films.