Formation of Nanostructured Tungsten with Arborescent Shape due to Helium Plasma Irradiation

Abstract

Deeply nanostructured tungsten with an arborescent shape was found for the first time to be formed on tungsten-coated graphite by a high-flux helium plasma irradiation at surface temperatures of 1250 and 1600 K, an incident ion energy of 12 eV (well below the physical sputtering threshold) and a helium ion fluence of 3.5 × 1027 m-2.