research Paper: Fabrication of Titanium Target on Copper Substrate for Neutron Production in ES-150 Electrostatic Accelerator

This article presents the fabrication and characterization of a titanium target deposited on a copper substrate, designed for generating neutron particles in the ES-150 electrostatic accelerator. The selection of copper as the substrate and titanium as the target material was based on their respective properties: copper's exceptional thermal conductivity and titanium's high hydrogen absorption coefficient. A titanium thin film was deposited onto the copper substrate using ion beam sputtering. The resulting crystal structure, surface morphology, and elemental composition of the samples were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray spectrophotometry (EDX), respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed distinct titanium peaks, primarily oriented along the Ti (002) plane at an angle of 38.42o. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results indicate a uniform film with a regular grain distribution and no visible defects. Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) further confirmed the presence of titanium and copper elements in the target. Ion beam analysis-based elemental characterization revealed a thick copper substrate and a titanium layer, which was 1.90 ± 0.19 µm thick. The neutron flux produced by the targets in the 150 KeV electrostatic accelerator was investigated, and the neutron yield was measured along the beam axis. A maximum neutron yield of 107 n/s was achieved.