Behavior of Hydrogen Implanted during Physical Vapor Deposition in Al, Mg and MgAl Films

The behavior of hydrogen in Mg, Al and MgAl thin films on stainless steel substrate was investigated in this work. The hydrogen ions extracted from plasma were used to load hydrogen into the film material. Glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GDOES) was applied to obtain the hydrogen depth profiles in Al films versus hydrogenation parameters. The MgH2, AlH3 and Mg(AlH4)2 hydrides were identified in plasma hydrogenated at temperature below 100 °C films using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The reversible hydride phase transformation has been observed at elevated temperatures. Three hydrogen release stages at 100, 130 and 400 °C were registered for Mg(AlH4)2 corresponding to three steps of decomposition