It was noted that a barrier to the absorption of H molecules, offered by a non-metallic film on a metal surface, could result in the super-permeation of suprathermal H particles. That is, essentially all of the sticking or implanted particles could permeate through the metallic membrane, with a flux that did not depend upon the temperature or film-thickness. Membranes with oxicarbide monolayer films were here immersed in a H plasma in order to study their interaction with H ions having energies ranging from a few eV to 250eV. A stable super-permeation flux was observed up to ion energies of some tens of eV, without making special efforts to maintain the surface film. The non-metallic monolayer film remained absolutely stable during sputtering by H particles of energies of less than some 50eV. Super-permeability appeared to be an intrinsic property of systems which involved non-metallic films, metals, and H particles with energies lower than 50eV.

Plasma-Driven Super-Permeation of Hydrogen through Group-Va Metals A.I.Livshits, F.Sube, M.N.Solovyev, M.E.Notkin, M.Bacal: Journal of Applied Physics, 1998, 84[5], 2558-64