It was noted that the 3He(d,p)4He resonance reaction provided a means of monitoring He depth profiles in solids, in particular by scanning the d-energy and detecting emitted the easily distinguished 13MeV protons. Here, the change introduced by isothermal annealing, into the depth profile of He-3 implanted into a Au–Ag alloy, was monitored. The results showed that He profiles were affected only by high temperatures and long annealing times, and departed from a Gaussian distribution because the diffusion did not obey Fick’s law. The results also indicated that part of the He diffused towards the surface while the rest remained trapped at the implantation depth. An asymmetrical profile enhancement seen on the up-stream side was attributed to intermediate trapping by radiation-induced defects or to diffusion enhancement in the vicinity of a surface acting as a non-saturated so-called trapping site.

Helium Diffusion in Metals Investigated by Nuclear Reaction Analysis. J.L.Flament, F.Ziélinski, S.Saudé, R.I.Grynszpan: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 2004, 216, 161-6