Experimental investigation of core-shell tungsten nanoclusters for ion radiation protection

Research on nanomaterials for radiation protection has attracted significant attention. Nanocluster is a kind of nanomaterial with abundant interfaces. However, only a few studies have been conducted on the radiation protection properties of nanoclusters. In this paper, we investigated the synthesis and ion radiation protection performance of core-shell tungsten-based (W-WOx) nanocluster thin films. Using a combination of magnetron sputtering and gas aggregation methods, we successfully synthesized W-WOx nanoclusters with particle sizes below 20 nm. A 200 nm-thick W-WOx nanocluster thin film was then deposited onto static random-access memory (SRAM) to evaluate its radiation protection capabilities under irradiation by tantalum ions at energies of 1332.16 MeV and 1912.1 MeV. The number of single event upsets (SEU) in SRAM was measured before and after coating with the nanocluster film. Results showed that the 200 nm W-WOx nanocluster film achieved radiation shielding comparable to that of 9.7 μm tungsten. With the same resistance to heavy ion radiation, the thickness of W-WOx nanoclusters films can be reduced to 2% of ordinary W films. These findings demonstrate the promising potential of W-based nanoclusters for applications in radiation protection.