Fabrication and characterizationof self-supporting Yttrium foils

Abstract: In this project self-supporting foils with focus on the element yttriumhave been fabricated by means of evaporation and magnetron sputtering.The goal was to see if it was possible to make photochromic selfsupportingyttrium foils. Multiple self-supporting foils were made andsome had suitable properties to be further investigated. The first foilof interest was a plain carbon foil, the second was yttrium layered ontop of a carbon foil, the third was a yttrium-only foil and the fourthwas a yttrium oxyhydride foil. The foils were then subsequentlycharacterized with a newly developed Medium Energy Ion Scattering -Elastic Recoil Detection Analysis (MEIS - ERDA) technique. Thistechnique measures energy loss and recoils (kicked out atoms) of heavyions passing through the self-supporting foils. The measurements weremade with three ion projectile energies, 250, 300 and 320keV. Theprojectiles sent were argon ions. It was noted that the yttriumoxyhydride foil had more hydrogen and oxygen than the yttrium foil. Withoptical measurements it was also possible to confirm that the yttriumoxyhydride foil had photochromic properties. With the knowledge of theparameters used to fabricate these foils, the conclusion is that furtherresearch on self-supporting yttrium oxyhydride is encouraged.