Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms最新文献

{"title":"6 MeV Au+ ion irradiation mechanism on SiC/SiO2 interface stability: focus on nitridation’s enhancement in radiation resistance","authors":"Nuoya Yang ,&nbsp;Jian Wang ,&nbsp;Wende Huang ,&nbsp;Qian Xu ,&nbsp;Chengwen Fu ,&nbsp;Yihui Yuan ,&nbsp;Hao Guo ,&nbsp;Kunyang Fan ,&nbsp;Shirui Li ,&nbsp;Yao Ma ,&nbsp;Mingmin Huang ,&nbsp;Zhimei Yang ,&nbsp;Yun Li ,&nbsp;Min Gong ,&nbsp;Guodong He ,&nbsp;Qiuming Wang ,&nbsp;Qiang Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165844","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165844","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In aerospace radiation environments, the demand for SiC MOSFET devices with enhanced switching performance, superior high-temperature endurance, and radiation tolerance is continuously increasing. However, various ions in these environment can degrade the gate performance of such devices. To enhance the gate stability under radiation, high-fluence and low-energy gold ion radiation was performed on SiC/SiO₂ MOS structures. Two types of samples were tested: those that underwent oxidation only without annealing, and those that were treated with a NO annealing process after oxidation. The interfacial performance of these two types of samples was compared after radiation exposure. The experimental results indicated that at high radiation fluence, the non-nitrided samples lost their capacitance–voltage (C-V) characteristics, while the nitrided samples maintained good performance. Deep Level Transient Spectroscopy (DLTS) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) were used to analyze changes in interface traps, energy levels, bonding configurations, and band structures. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to observe changes in grain size and distribution at interfaces. The findings revealed that nitridation fills carbon vacancies caused by radiation, forms N-C bonds at the SiC/SiO₂ interface, and prevents the formation of carbon vacancy. These effects ensure the stability of the 4H-SiC/SiO₂ interface under radiation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"567 ","pages":"Article 165844"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144911953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"X-ray simulations with gVXR in education, digital twining, experiment planning, and data analysis","authors":"Franck P. Vidal ,&nbsp;Shaghayegh Afshari ,&nbsp;Sharif Ahmed ,&nbsp;Alberto Albiol ,&nbsp;Francisco Albiol ,&nbsp;Éric Béchet ,&nbsp;Alberto Corbí Bellot ,&nbsp;Stefan Bosse ,&nbsp;Simon Burkhard ,&nbsp;Younes Chahid ,&nbsp;Cheng-Ying Chou ,&nbsp;Robert Culver ,&nbsp;Pascal Desbarats ,&nbsp;Lewis Dixon ,&nbsp;Johan Friemann ,&nbsp;Amin Garbout ,&nbsp;Marcos García-Lorenzo ,&nbsp;Jean-François Giovannelli ,&nbsp;Ross Hanna ,&nbsp;Clémentine Hatton ,&nbsp;Pierre-Frédéric Villard","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165804","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165804","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>gVirtualXray (gVXR) is an open-source framework that relies on the Beer–Lambert law to simulate X-ray images in real time on a graphics processor unit (GPU) using triangular meshes. A wide range of programming languages is supported (C/C++, Python, R, Ruby, Tcl, C#, Java, and GNU Octave). Simulations generated with gVXR have been benchmarked with clinically realistic phantoms (i.e. complex structures and materials) using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations, real radiographs and real digitally reconstructed radiographs (DRRs), and X-ray computed tomography (XCT). It has been used in a wide range of applications, including real-time medical simulators, proposing a new densitometric radiographic modality in clinical imaging, studying noise removal techniques in fluoroscopy, teaching particle physics and X-ray imaging to undergraduate students in engineering, and XCT to masters students, predicting image quality and artifacts in material science, etc. gVXR has also been used to produce a high number of realistic simulated images in optimisation problems and to train machine learning algorithms. This paper presents a comprehensive review of such applications of gVXR.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"568 ","pages":"Article 165804"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144914002","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry analysis of the formation of superconducting V3Si thin films","authors":"Fshatsion B. Gessesew ,&nbsp;Manjith Bose ,&nbsp;Kumaravelu Ganesan ,&nbsp;Brett C. Johnson ,&nbsp;Jeffrey C. McCallum","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165838","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165838","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Vanadium silicide, V<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>Si, is a promising superconductor for silicon-based superconducting (SC) devices due to its compatibility with silicon substrates and its potential for integration into existing semiconductor technologies. However, to date there have been only a limited number of studies of the formation of SC V<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>Si thin films and the associated structural and superconducting properties. This work aims to explore the structural characteristics and SC properties of V<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>Si films, paving the way for the development of functional SC devices for quantum technology applications. We have investigated the formation of V<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>Si films by directly depositing vanadium (V) onto thermally grown SiO₂ on Si, followed by high-vacuum annealing to induce the phase transformation into V<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>Si. Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) was employed throughout the sample growth process to analyze the material composition as a function of depth using a <span><math><mrow><msup><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>4</mn></mrow></msup><msup><mrow><mtext>He</mtext></mrow><mrow><mo>+</mo></mrow></msup></mrow></math></span> ion beam. Analysis of the RBS data confirmed that the V layer fully reacted with the SiO₂ substrate to form V<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>Si at the interface, in addition to a vanadium oxide (VO<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mi>x</mi></mrow></msub></math></span>) layer forming atop the V<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>Si film. The thickness of the V<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>Si layer ranges from 63 to 130 nm, with annealing temperatures between 750 °C and 800 °C. A sharp SC transition was observed at T<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mi>c</mi></mrow></msub></math></span> = 13 K in the sample annealed at 750 °C, with a narrow transition width <span><math><mrow><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>Δ</mi><msub><mrow><mi>T</mi></mrow><mrow><mi>c</mi></mrow></msub><mo>)</mo></mrow><mtext>of</mtext><mn>0</mn><mo>.</mo><mn>6</mn><mspace></mspace><mtext>K</mtext></mrow></math></span>. Initial reactive ion etching (RIE) studies yielded promising results for local removal of the (VO<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mi>x</mi></mrow></msub></math></span>) to facilitate electrical contact formation to the SC layer.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"567 ","pages":"Article 165838"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144896329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Status of the TJUAMS facility","authors":"Kejun Dong,&nbsp;Sheng Xu,&nbsp;Lixin Zhang,&nbsp;Yunchao Lang,&nbsp;Siliang Li","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165840","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165840","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The XCAMS system at Tianjin University, operational since October 2017, has successfully analyzed over 8,000 samples for ¹⁴C, ¹⁰Be, and ²⁶Al measurements during its seven years of service. Significant improvements were achieved through the 2023–2024 installation of two automated graphitization systems, substantially enhancing ¹⁴C sample throughput. Continuous optimization of system parameters and operational protocols, guided by long-term performance data and component reliability assessments, has established robust analytical capabilities. These advancements have enabled broad applications of cosmogenic nuclides in geoscience and environmental research. This contribution details the facility’s current status, including preparation methods, performance metrics, operational results, and component evaluations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"567 ","pages":"Article 165840"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144885585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Producing 236U reference standards for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry at the University of Notre Dame","authors":"T.L. Bailey ,&nbsp;N. Cabanas ,&nbsp;I. Russell ,&nbsp;D. Lund ,&nbsp;G. Mulcahy ,&nbsp;C. Bacall ,&nbsp;R. Cox ,&nbsp;C.J. Dye ,&nbsp;W. Peeler ,&nbsp;F. Rivero ,&nbsp;P. Collon","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165825","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165825","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>²³⁶U is a rare isotope of uranium, naturally occurring in ores with an abundance of ²³⁶U/²³⁸U<span><math><mrow><mo>&lt;</mo><mn>1</mn><mo>×</mo><mn>1</mn><msup><mrow><mn>0</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>9</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math></span>. The ability to detect it and make isotopic ratio measurements has applications ranging from nuclear forensics and nonproliferation to energy production and environmental protection. Currently, Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is the only technique sensitive enough to accurately measure ²³⁶U/²³⁸U isotopic ratios as they exist in naturally occurring ores in the range of ²³⁶U/²³⁸U<span><math><mrow><mspace></mspace><mo>=</mo><mspace></mspace><mn>1</mn><msup><mrow><mn>0</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>12</mn></mrow></msup><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn><msup><mrow><mn>0</mn></mrow><mrow><mo>−</mo><mn>9</mn></mrow></msup></mrow></math></span>. Some AMS facilities have demonstrated their capabilities to make these measurements. Historically, the lack of commercially available reference standards covering the range of naturally occurring ²³⁶U/²³⁸U abundances has necessitated the use of absolute measurements, notoriously difficult to do using AMS, resulting in increased uncertainties in measurements and a reliance on knowledge of systematic effects. To mitigate these issues, various AMS facilities have sought to develop their own reference standards. Using a reference standard prepared for other forms of mass spectrometry, a series of AMS suitable standards was created through dilution with low-background natural uranium. The techniques used to produce and characterize these materials as well as analysis of them using AMS will be discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"567 ","pages":"Article 165825"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144879038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A new highly sensitive compact laser based OSL reader − application in medical dosimetry","authors":"Anuj Soni ,&nbsp;R.N. Khanderao ,&nbsp;N. Kakade ,&nbsp;D.R. Mishra ,&nbsp;S.D. Sharma ,&nbsp;B.K. Sapra","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165836","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165836","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A highly sensitive compact laser based Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) reader has been developed. The system consists of compact (matchbox size) lasers of 473 and 532 nm wavelength respectively having optical power 350 mW each. The dark counts of the system were found to be 30–40 cps, which is on par with LED (Light Emitting Diode) based commercial Riso reader. The minimum detectable dose of the developed system was found to be 147 μGy using LiCaAlF₆:Eu,Y dosimeter (3 mm dia) under 450 nm stimulation for one sec data acquisition as compared to 260 μGy with Riso reader. The sensitivity of the developed system was found to be nearly 2 times to that of the commercial Riso reader. The instrument will be useful for OSL phosphor research and dose verification in quality audit of radiotherapy. The design aspects of the developed reader system and the dosimetric characterization are discussed with its possible application in medical dosimetry.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"567 ","pages":"Article 165836"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144867386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Synthesis and characterization of Mn doped magnesium oxide nanoparticles and investigation of their thermoluminescence dosimetry properties in gamma irradiation","authors":"R. Adibi ,&nbsp;E. Sadeghi ,&nbsp;M. Zahedifar","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165828","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165828","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This research successfully synthesized magnesium oxide nanoparticles doped with Mn by the co-precipitation method, followed by annealing at an optimized temperature. Structural analysis using X-ray diffraction confirmed the formation of pure and crystalline Mn-doped MgO nanoparticles. The morphology and elemental composition were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and energy- depressive X-ray spectroscopy. The XRD spectrum of the synthesized particles shows a MgO with a crystallite size of about 20 nm. The MgO lattice was confirmed to contain Mn ions by EDX analysis. The photoluminescence properties of MgO:Mn were also investigated. The nanoparticles were subjected to ⁶⁰Co gamma irradiation to examine their thermoluminescence properties. Glow curves were obtained by heating irradiated samples, and the characteristics of the glow peaks were analyzed. The investigation focused on the impact of different parameters, including dopant concentration and annealing temperature, on the thermoluminescence properties of nanoparticles. Dopant concentration and optimized annealing temperatures led to a better thermoluminescence response. The evaluation of dose-response characteristics involved assessing linearity, sensitivity, and reproducibility. A computer program that relies on general order kinetics assisted in identifying and analyzing the TL glow peaks and their kinetic parameters. The thermoluminescence curve of nanoparticles is relatively straightforward, depending on the radiation dose, and the degree of fading is relatively minor.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"567 ","pages":"Article 165828"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144861275","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effect of epitaxial buffer layer on SiC junction barrier Schottky diodes electrical performance degradation induced by heavy ions","authors":"Shiwei Zhao ,&nbsp;Jie Liu ,&nbsp;Yuzhu Liu ,&nbsp;Xiaoyu Yan ,&nbsp;PeiPei Hu ,&nbsp;Teng Zhang ,&nbsp;Yu Dong ,&nbsp;Pengfei Zhai ,&nbsp;Youmei Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165839","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165839","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Silicon carbide (SiC) Junction-Barrier-Schottky (JBS) diodes are becoming increasingly important for high-power and high-radiation environments due to their superior material properties, including high voltage tolerance, fast switching speeds, and excellent resistance to radiation-induced damage. However, SiC devices are vulnerable to single-event effects (SEE), especially under heavy ion irradiation. Ion-induced generation of a large number of electron-hole pairs within the SiC material, coupled with the high electric field in the device’s depletion region, results in highly localized energy pulses and power dissipation. This leads to the radiation damage in the device material, ultimately causing degradation of the device’s electrical performance. This study investigates the impact of a Buffer structure with a graded doping profile on the single-event burnout (SEB) and single-event leakage current (SELC) thresholds of SiC JBS diodes. Heavy ion irradiation with different linear energy transfer (LET) values was used to assess the device performance under reverse bias conditions. The results show that the Buffer structure significantly improves the SEB threshold compared to the Baseline structure, reducing the risk of breakdown under high LET irradiation. Additionally, the study uses TCAD simulations to analyse the influence of LET and bias voltage on power dissipation and electric field distribution, revealing that the Buffer structure mitigates high electric field concentrations, it enhances the device’s resistance to SELC and SEB by modulating the electric field distribution and reducing power density peaks at specific locations within the device.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"567 ","pages":"Article 165839"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144860942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Measurement of plutonium in surface modern corals by accelerator mass spectrometry","authors":"Huijuan Wang ,&nbsp;Xianyu Zhan ,&nbsp;Ming He ,&nbsp;Qingzhang Zhao ,&nbsp;Hua He ,&nbsp;Zhiyong Liu ,&nbsp;Mario De Cesare ,&nbsp;Jingyu Mai ,&nbsp;Chunping Huang ,&nbsp;Yongjing Guan","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165827","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165827","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>To investigate the activity concentration and source of plutonium near Weizhou island in the Beibu Gulf, China, plutonium isotopes in different surface coral species were analyzed. The measured ²³⁹Pu activity concentrations in coral samples ranged from 3.12 to 19.93 mBq/kg. The statistically indistinguishable<!--> ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu atomic ratios observed in coral skeletons (0.203 ± 0.004) and ambient seawater (0.202 ± 0.003), which contrast significantly with sediment ratios (0.221 ± 0.015). The ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu atomic ratios (0.173–0.225) indicate that the plutonium deposition predominantly originates from global atmospheric fallout, with an estimated average 18 % contribution from the Pacific Proving Grounds.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"567 ","pages":"Article 165827"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144858372","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"First Protactinium-231 measurements using the MILEA AMS system","authors":"Janis Wolf ,&nbsp;Marcus Christl ,&nbsp;Sebastian Fichter ,&nbsp;Robin Steudtner ,&nbsp;Habacuc Perez Tribouillier ,&nbsp;Stella Winkler ,&nbsp;Anton Wallner","doi":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165824","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.nimb.2025.165824","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present an AMS-based method for measuring <span><math><mrow><mn>231</mn><mi>Pa</mi></mrow></math></span> at natural levels in environmental samples. A chemical procedure extracts <span><math><mrow><mn>231</mn><mi>Pa</mi></mrow></math></span> from sea sediments using <span><math><mrow><mn>233</mn><mi>Pa</mi></mrow></math></span> as a reference isotope. <span><math><mrow><mn>233</mn><mi>Pa</mi></mrow></math></span> was separated from its mother-nuclide <span><math><mrow><mn>237</mn><mi>Np</mi></mrow></math></span> via single-step extraction chromatography. AMS measurements at the Multi-Isotope-Low-Energy AMS System (MILEA) at ETH Zürich showed no interference from <span><math><mrow><mn>232</mn><mi>Th</mi></mrow></math></span>. We determined a <span><math><mrow><mn>231</mn><mi>Pa</mi></mrow></math></span> concentration of (3.6 ± 0.6) × 10⁹ <!-->atoms/g in the IAEA-385 reference material (Irish Sea sediment). We report on the development and implementation of a measurement procedure for <span><math><mrow><mn>231</mn><mi>Pa</mi></mrow></math></span> AMS, demonstrating its potential for ultra-trace environmental studies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19380,"journal":{"name":"Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section B-beam Interactions With Materials and Atoms","volume":"567 ","pages":"Article 165824"},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2025-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144852767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}