PMID- 36963274
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
DCOM- 20230403
LR  - 20230403
IS  - 1878-4291 (Electronic)
IS  - 0968-4328 (Linking)
VI  - 168
DP  - 2023 May
TI  - Influence of UO(2) crystal orientation on laser ablation performance.
PG  - 103445
LID - S0968-4328(23)00043-4 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.micron.2023.103445 [doi]
AB  - Crystallographic orientation dependence deteriorates the performance of surface 
      analysis methods such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and focused ion 
      beam (FIB). This study explores the corresponding potential challenges of laser 
      ablation (LA) as a powerful sampling tool for inductively coupled plasma-mass 
      spectrometry (ICP-MS). To this end, three UO(2) single crystals of different 
      orientation as well as polycrystalline UO(2) were produced and characterized. 
      Subsequently, a ns-laser ablation system was employed to study laser-matter 
      interaction in detail. Firing the laser continuously at 1 Hz with various single 
      shot fluence (2, 4, 6, 8, 12 J cm(-2)) for diverse periods created LA craters 
      impacted by cumulative fluence between 50 and 650 J cm(-2). Repeated LA 
      experiments on the (100) plane of a UO(2) single crystal at the beginning and end 
      of the entire study revealed highly reproducible (<3%) LA rates, only limited by 
      the fluctuation of the laser energy output of the ns-LA system. After thorough 
      cleaning of the ablated samples, surface roughness and average depth of LA 
      craters were determined using confocal laser scanning profilometry. Both LA rate 
      and average depth of craters decreased exponentially with increasing single shot 
      fluence independently of the crystal orientation. Surface roughness increased 
      linearly with increasing cumulative fluence having largest intensification for 
      lowest single shot fluence. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images not only 
      revealed the conical silhouette of LA craters, but also identified a convex 
      meniscus at its bottom. This particular shape of the crater bottom with a deeper 
      ring surrounding the central region is a result of melted and re-solidified UO(2) 
      generated during the LA process and the main limiting factor for the achievable 
      depth resolution. The rapid re-solidification of the liquid phase after each 
      single laser shot created tiles of different shape and orientation, depending on 
      UO(2) crystal orientation. Three different types of ejected particles radially 
      distributed around the LA craters were identified by SEM, providing profound 
      insights into laser-UO(2) interaction.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
FAU - Krachler, Michael
AU  - Krachler M
AD  - European Commission - Joint Research Centre Karlsruhe, P.O. Box 2340, D-76125 
      Karlsruhe, Germany. Electronic address: michael.krachler@ec.europa.eu.
FAU - Ferri, Ana Isabel Martinez
AU  - Ferri AIM
AD  - European Commission - Joint Research Centre Karlsruhe, P.O. Box 2340, D-76125 
      Karlsruhe, Germany.
FAU - Bulgheroni, Antonio
AU  - Bulgheroni A
AD  - European Commission - Joint Research Centre Karlsruhe, P.O. Box 2340, D-76125 
      Karlsruhe, Germany.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230317
PL  - England
TA  - Micron
JT  - Micron (Oxford, England : 1993)
JID - 9312850
SB  - IM
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Confocal laser scanning profilometer
OT  - Laser ablation
OT  - Single crystal
OT  - UO(2)
COIS- Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known 
      competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared 
      to influence the work reported in this paper.
EDAT- 2023/03/25 06:00
MHDA- 2023/03/25 06:01
CRDT- 2023/03/24 19:06
PHST- 2022/12/08 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/03/15 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2023/03/15 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/03/25 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2023/03/25 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/03/24 19:06 [entrez]
AID - S0968-4328(23)00043-4 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.micron.2023.103445 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Micron. 2023 May;168:103445. doi: 10.1016/j.micron.2023.103445. Epub 2023 Mar 17.