Storage of material
AssigneeUnited Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
InventorsRichard Stuart Nelson, Stanley Frederick Pugh, Michael John Stapley Smith
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Abstract
There is disclosed a method for the convenient storage of material, especially noxious or radioactive material, which method comprises entrapping the material within a solid by bombarding the solid with ions of the material so as to form a concentration of the material within the solid. Forms of apparatus for carrying out this method are also described.
Claims17
A method for the storage of a material within a solid comprising the steps of:
- locating a solid in a chamber containing an atmosphere of a material to be stored within the solid;
- bombarding a surface of the solid with ions of the material at an energy sufficient such that the material is implanted beneath the surface of the solid and such that erosion of the solid, due to sputtering, does not prevent the implanted material from being retained in said solid, said bombarding forming a concentration of said material within the solid;
- depositing on the implanted surface of said solid, by sputtering, additional solid material such that there is a net gain in the thickness of said solid, said sputtering being carried out in said chamber with ions of said material;
- and
- bombarding said additional solid material with ions of the material to implant ions of the material therein such that there is a build up of stored material in the solid.
A method for the storage of material within a solid according to claim 31 comprising providing a first and a second electrode of the solid, said first and second electrodes forming part of a discharge system, providing said atmosphere about said first and second electrodes, electrically energizing said first and second electrodes so that ions of the material bombard a surface of each of the electrodes, and controlling the electrical energizing to implant material beneath the surface of the first electrode to form a concentration of the material within said first electrode and to deposit on the implanted surface of said first electrode new solid sputtered from said second electrode so that there is a net gain in the thickness of, and a build up of stored material, in, said first electrode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.