ERD facility for analysis of hydrogen and deuterium in solids

Hydrogen is the lightest element in nature, and so, its detection and quantitative analysis is difficult by the conventional methods utilized for other elements. In the recent years the technique of elastic recoil detection analysis (ERD) using 1–2 MeV He+ beam has been developed to quantitatively and simultaneously analyze hydrogen and its isotopes in solids. Such a facility has been set up using the 2 MeV Van-de-Graaff accelerator at IIT Kanpur. It facilitates H and D analysis in a material up to a depth of ∼ 1µm with a detection sensitivity of 0·1 at.% and depth resolution of about 300 A. The application potential of this setup is illustrated by presenting the results of measurements performed on Al:H:D systems prepared by plasma source ion implantation and highTc YBCO pellets exposed to humid atmosphere.