Vacuum 148 (2018) 239e247

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Vacuum
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/vacuum

Gamma ray induced modifications in copper microwires synthesized

using track-etched membrane
Rashi Gupta a, Rajesh Kumar a, b, *, R.P. Chauhan c, S.K. Chakarvarti c
a
University School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi-110078, India
b
Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 110 8th Street, Troy, NY-12180, USA
c
Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra-136119, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Low dimensional copper wires have gained a lot of interest in the field of device fabrication due to their
Received 19 September 2017 interesting properties, low synthesis cost and many potential applications. In the present work, effects of
Received in revised form g-radiation exposure on physico-chemical and electrical properties of Cu microwires fabricated by
24 October 2017
electrochemical deposition in the track-etch membrane were studied. The synthesized Cu microwires
Accepted 18 November 2017
Available online 21 November 2017
were exposed using g-radiation from a 60Co source at four different doses of 30, 80, 130 and 180 kGy
respectively. The morphology of the pristine and g-radiation exposed Cu microwires were characterized
using Scanning Electron Microscopy. The X-ray diffraction spectra results confirmed the face centered
Keywords:
Low dimensional
cubic crystal structure for pristine and g-radiation exposed microwires. Microwire crystallite size was
Template synthesis determined using the Scherrer equation and found to increase from 39 to 50 nm with increase in gamma
Gamma radiation doses. The I-V measurements indicated that the resistance of the microwires increased with increasing
Scanning electron microscopy gamma dose, suggesting that exposure to g-radiation increases the reflection from the grain boundaries
X-ray diffraction and induces defects and oxygen impurities in the wires that hinder the mobility of the electrons resulting
Electrical conductivity into decrease in conductivity.
© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction lateral size varied from 20 to 60 nm. ZnO nanowires of diameter

Microwires have continued to beguile enormous interest
because of their compelling applications in distinct fields including
nanomedicine, gas sensing, electronic devices, environment, en-
ergy harvesting and others [1e5]. The large aspect ratio of the wires
makes them an exemplary component for nano fabrication in-
dustry [6]. Copper is contemplated as one of the integral metals of
modern industry owing to its high thermal and electrical conduc-
tivity, ductility, low cost, easy availability and lower resistivity [7].
Low dimensional wires can be synthesized using various tech-
niques including atomic layer deposition, template synthesis,
chemical etching, vaporeliquidesolid method, laser ablation,
electrodeposition, solution-phase synthesis etc. Liu et al. [8] have
reported ZnO nanowires of 50 nm diameter synthesized using the
hydrothermal method. Yang et al. [9] have prepared NiO nanowires
by the sol-gel process in which they obtained nanowires whose
* Corresponding author. University School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Guru
Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi-110078, India.
E-mail address: rajeshkumaripu@gmail.com (R. Kumar).
varying between 80 and 150 nm and height 2.4 e 4 mm have been
synthesized by the vapor-liquid-solid method by Li et al. [10]. Liu
et al. [11] have reported the synthesis of SnO2 nanowires of 20 nm
diameter by laser ablation method. The free-standing vertically
aligned wires can be synthesized by various techniques including
flame transport method, lithography, template-assisted deposition,
etc. [12e14]. The wires obtained by template-assisted electro-
chemical deposition have (a) uniform diameter and length
throughout the complete sample (b) mild synthesis procedure (c)
fast growth rate (d) facile multilayer deposition (f) slight change in
the deposition parameters can alter the properties of the wires (g)
feasibility to deposit films, particles, wires and tubules [15e17].
Radiation has a significant impact on materials, and the post-
irradiation effects are widely studied and evaluated regarding
variation in the properties. The research of radiation effect on
materials came into existence after the development and growth of
fission reactors. The space radiation environment contains protons,
electrons, neutrons, g-radiation and heavy charged particles.
Ionizing radiation is electromagnetic radiation that has sufficient
energy to remove electrons from atoms. Ionization results in the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2017.11.031
0042-207X/© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
240 R. Gupta et al. / Vacuum 148 (2018) 239e247
production of negatively charged free electrons and positively
charged ionized atoms. Ionizing radiation can be classified into two
categories: photons (X-radiation and g-radiation) and particles
(alpha and beta particles and neutrons). Use of radiation to engi-
neer the properties of materials has put forward immense oppor-
tunities. Therefore, fundamental understanding of the processes
that take place at nanoscale level and control the properties of
material under extreme conditions will provide the means of
tailoring a material in ways that will make it more tolerant to harsh
conditions.
g-radiation exposure provides a unique way to modify the
properties by causing indelible changes in the macromolecular
structure of the materials [18,19]. As the g-radiation are uncharged,
the major change in the absorbing medium takes place when entire
energy of the g-radiation is transferred to the atoms of the medium.
The interaction of g-radiation with matter is notably different from
that of charged particles owing to its very high penetration power.
Exposure to g-radiation is known to generate controlled defects in
metals and semiconductors such as vacancies, interstitials, dislo-
cations, frenkel pairs etc., as a result, the physico-chemical and
electrical properties of the pristine samples get modified [20].
Lee et al. [21] have reported improvement in transport proper-
ties of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs after having been exposed to g-radiation
due to growing lifetime of non-equilibrium carriers. Lavanya et al.
[22] demonstrated that gamma radiation could be an effective tool
for tailoring the surface characteristics and sensing properties of
WO3 nanoparticles. Kaur et al. [23] have reported an increase in
electrical conductivity of Zn nanowires of 100 nm diameter after
gamma radiation exposure. Feng et al. [24] analyzed that g-radia-
tion exposure could anneal the samples and improve the degree of
structural order in graphite. Maity et al. [25] and Arshak et al. [26]
have reported an increase in current density for thin films with
gamma radiation dose and decrease in current density with in-
crease in film thickness due to increase in some defects which leads
to highly effective resistivity. g-radiation exposure leads to a
sequence of energy sharing collisions that constitutes a displace-
ment cascade and creates defects that leads to decrease in mean
free path of the conduction electrons in the crystal lattice resulting
into variation in physico-chemical and electrical properties of the
Fig. 1. Schematic representation of cell used during electrochemical deposition of the microwires.
template-synthesized Cu microwires. These significant changes at
different doses of gamma radiation exposure have been studied in
the present work.
2. Experimental methods
2.1. Electrolyte and template specifications
The electrolyte consisted of 1 M CuSO4$5H2O solution and pH
was adjusted using Sulphuric acid. A polycarbonate membrane
having cylindrical channels of diameter 1 mm and the pore density
2
107 pores/cm2, manufactured by Whatman was used as a
scaffold to direct the growth of microwires.
2.2. Electrochemical cell and deposition parameters
Cu microwires were potentiostatically deposited in the channels
of the template at 25  C by applying a constant potential of 0.35 V in
a two-electrode electrochemical cell for 20 minutes. A current
variation of 7e11 mA was observed during the deposition process.
A conical copper rod was used as a counter electrode, and a copper
plate covered with a copper tape concealed with a template served
as the working electrode. The growth mechanism of the microwires
starts on the application of external electric field which builds a
potential difference across the length of the template. This potential
loss increases along the length from bottom to top due to high
electric resistance. As the negative potential is applied to the copper
tape, the Cuþ2 ions move towards the bottom of the pores through
diffusion, where they form copper grains due to reduction process
which further assembles according to the shape of the template
giving rise to microwires. To avoid any possible oxidation of the
synthesized Cu microwires, the template containing synthesized
microwires was placed in a vacuum desiccator. A schematic of the
electrodeposition setup is shown in Fig. 1.
2.3. Gamma radiation exposure parameters
The gamma radiation exposure of the Cu microwire array,
embedded within the polycarbonate template, was carried out at
 R. Gupta et al. / Vacuum 148 (2018) 239e247
Table 1
Gamma exposure dose and corresponding time of the microwires.
Dose (kGy) Exposure time (hr: min)
30 8:23
80 21:27
130 34:32
180 47:37
the Inter University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi, India using
Cobalt-60 (dose rate of 3.832 kGy/hr) source. The samples were
exposed to four different doses viz., 30, 80, 130, and 180 kGy. The
time of exposure for the respective dose is tabulated in Table 1.
2.4. Characterization techniques
The modification in the structural properties of the g-radiation
exposed Cu microwires was studied by the X-ray diffraction (XRD)
method using Brooker AXS system (scan speed 2 /min) at IUAC,
New Delhi, India. The average crystallite size was calculated with
the help of XRD patterns obtained. For SEM observation, the tem-
plate was removed by dissolving into dichloromethane (CH2Cl2)
and subsequently washed several times with ethanol and distilled
water. After cleaning, the dried samples were also coated with a
5 nm thick layer of Au-Pd to form a conducting layer to avoid
charging. SEM images were obtained using an EVO 18 SEM from
Carl Zeiss, Germany operated at 20 KV. The chemical composition of
Cu microwires was analyzed using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spec-
troscopy (EDAX) technique. The IeV characteristics of pristine and
g-radiation exposed Cu microwires were obtained using a two-
probe system, with the probe station connected with Keithley
2400 series source meter. A Cu substrate over which polycarbonate
membrane was placed acts as one electrode while a fine tipped
tungsten probe having a diameter of 10 mm served as another
electrode to measure the Current-Voltage characteristics of the
microwires [23]. For I-V measurements, the diameter of tungsten
tip covered around 16 microwires (standing within the template on
Cu substrate) at one time. So, the entire results shown correspond
to the integrated effect of around 16 parallel Cu microwires.
The electrical conductivity (s) of 1 mm diameter wires was
calculated using the formula:
L dI L
s¼ ¼

R
A dV A
where L is the length of the wire, A is the area of cross-section of
cylindrical microwire and R is the resistance of microwire which
can be calculated from the slope of the linear best fit line obtained
from I-V graph.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. SEM studies
The morphology of pristine and gamma radiation irradiated Cu
microwires was investigated using SEM images as shown in
Fig. 2(a-h). The images show uniform growth of microwires over
the substrate with an average diameter of 1 mm. The Cu microwires
are almost of equal height having a uniform diameter along the
entire length. No change was observed in the morphology of the
microwires after being exposed to g-radiation as shown in Fig. 2(e-
h). Besides, no modifications were observed in the parameters of
the unit cell of the microwires that were calculated using XRD
spectra, discussed in next section. Thus, the g-radiation could not
damage the upper surface of the microwires.
241
3.2. X-ray diffraction studies
The structural properties of pristine and exposed microwires
were canvassed by Bruker XRD using CuKa radiation of wavelength
1.54096 Å. In the XRD pattern shown in Fig. 3(a-e), the miller
indices of the diffraction planes indexed as (111), (220) and (311)
assents with the JCPDS card 04e0836 confirms the face centered
cubic phase of the microwires with Fm3m space group. The sharp
reflection peaks revealed the well crystalline phase of the micro-
wires. XRD pattern of pristine and irradiated Cu microwires
revealed variation in the relative intensity with no deviation in the
positions of the peak. The preferred orientation of the miller plane
in crystal lattice was signified by the relative intensity of the peak.
Thus, texturing of Cu microwire array was done to quantify the
preferred crystallographic orientation. The texture coefficient's
(TCs) of various orientations for pre-and post-exposed samples
were evaluated using Harris formula [20].
IðhklÞ
IoðhklÞ
TC ¼ P IðhklÞ
1
n IoðhklÞ
Where, where I(hkl) is the measured relative intensity, Io(hkl)
stands for relative intensity given in JCPDS card for corresponding
peak and n is the number of miller planes. A value of TC greater than
one gives the preferred orientation of the planes. The preferred
orientations are indicated in bold in Table 2. The EDAX spectra of
pristine and gamma radiation exposed Cu microwires is shown in
Fig. 4(a-e). The EDAX spectra (Fig. 4a) of pristine Cu microwires
revealed wt.% of copper to be 97.9% along with a very little oxygen
around 2.02%. With the increase in gamma exposure dose an in-
crease in oxygen content is observed within the microwires due to
diffusion of oxygen in the wires as shown in Fig. 5. Rietveld
Refinement of the XRD was done using Fullprof program. The peak
profiles were fitted using DIVOLO6 function. The crystal symmetry
did not change with an increase in gamma radiation. Results of the
refinement of the samples is shown in Fig. 6. All the samples
crystallize with cubic structure and refined parameters are
included in Table 3.
3.3. Crystallite size and strain studies
(1) The crystallite size, L, was calculated from the well-known
Scherrer formula [27]:
Kl
L¼ (2)
bcosq
Where l is the wavelength of X-ray in (nm), b is the width of the
maximum intensity peak at half its maxima, k is the constant
usually taken as 0.9, q is the position of maximum intensity peak.
The broadening of the pure profile is a combination of broadening
due to crystallite size (bc) and lattice strain (bs) that arises due to
excess of grain boundaries controlled by deposition conditions.
Also, with grain size, the strain (ε) induced in the microwires was
calculated by the following equation [28]:
ε ¼ bs=4tanq (3)
where ε is a weighted average strain. An increase in crystallite size
and decrease in lattice strain was observed with the increase in g-
dose as shown in Fig. 7. The g-radiation impart thermal energy to
the wires that generate secondary electrons. These electrons
possess high energies sufficient enough to produce lattice
displacement damage. They lose a large fraction of energy on their
242 R. Gupta et al. / Vacuum 148 (2018) 239e247

Fig. 2. SEM image of copper microwires: (aed) pristine; (eeh) gamma radiation exposed at dose 30 kGy, 80 kGy, 130 kGy and 180 kGy respectively.
 R. Gupta et al. / Vacuum 148 (2018) 239e247 243

,2 Z∞ 
3
r 3
41  ð1  sÞ 1 1 1  elt
¼1  dt 5 (4)
r0 2l t 3 t 5 1  sekt
1

Here l is defined as:

1 le
¼
l d

Where r is the resistivity of the microwire, r0 is resistivity of the

bulk copper equal to 1.68
108 Um, le- is mean free path of
electron equal to 40 nm, d is the dimension of the wire and s is the
surface specularity, that varies from 0 for full diffusive scattering to
unity for fully elastic scattering. This model is valid for only for the
case where dimension of the wire is of the order of mean free path
of the electron. In our case, the diameter of wire is 1 mm which is
much larger than the mean free path of electron which is 41 nm,
therefore only grain boundary scattering plays role in increasing
the electron resistivity which is governed by MS [33] model pro-
posed in 1970. The assumptions made in MS model suggest that the
reflection from the grain boundaries is quantified only by reflection
coefficient (R). R describes the fraction of electrons reflected from
the potential barriers. Its value lies between 0 and 1. The change in
resistivity according to MS model is given by equation [38]:
Fig. 3. XRD spectra of pristine and gamma radiation exposed Cu microwires.
,  
r 3 1
¼1 1 d þ 3d2  3d3 ln 1 þ  (5)
interaction with the electron cloud of atoms which causes rear- r0 2 d
rangement in the nanostructure lattice. This rearrangement results
in the variation of the relative intensities of various peaks. There- Here, d is defined as
fore, the energy lost by high energy g-radiation lead to the diffusion   
of grain boundaries; the smaller grains aggregate into larger grains. R le
d¼ (6)
This relaxation or coalescence of the grain boundaries lead to the 1R L
decrease in the lattice strain. Secondly, energy given off by g-ra-
diation also helps to liberate some strain in between the grains where L represents the crystallite size in nanometres, r is resistivity
[20,29]. Similar results have also been reported in polymers irra- of the microwires and R is the reflection coefficient. In limiting case
diated with swift heavy ions and g-radiation [30]. d≪1, equation (5) rearranges to
   
3.4. Electrical studies r 3 R le
¼ 1þ (7)
r0 2 1R L
The I-V characteristics of the pristine and g-radiation exposed Rearranging equation (7), we get
samples are shown in Fig. 8. The interaction of the g-radiation with
 2 L   
matter is mainly governed by photoelectric effect, compton scat- r
tering and pair production. The gamma energy (1.332 MeV) used to rO  1 3 le
R¼ n   o (8)
r 2 L
irradiate the samples was dominated by compton effect. A 1þ rO  1 3 le
remarkable change in the phenomenon of charge transport is
observed with the change in the dimension of wires. As the The reflection coefficient is found to increase with an increase in
dimension of the nanowire approaches the mean free path of the gamma dose (Fig. 9) that hinders the movement of electrons within
conduction electron, the ballistic transport phenomenon occurs, in the microwire leading to the decrease in conductivity of the wires
which the electrons move across the nanowires unhindered i.e. (see Fig. 10). The exposure to g-radiation produces two types of
without being scattered till they arrive at the other end of the further scattering (a) impurity scattering (b) lattice scattering. The
electrode. In this present work, the synthesized microwires are copper atom has a loosely bound single valance electron in its 4s
much larger than the carrier mean free path, the diffusive transport subshell. The lattice contains positive ion cores Cuþ at regular sires
phenomenon will dominate in which the electron undergoes in face centered cubic crystal. The thermal energy imparted by
several scattering events while travelling through the wire and gamma radiation causes atoms to vibrate at their lattice site about a
electrical properties follow classical nature and obeys formula as mean equilibrium position. The electrons collide with these
shown in equation (1). The transport properties of the microwires vibrating atoms and will be scattered from one atom to other. The
can be investigated by combining size and irradiation effects. The exposure to g-radiation produces primary Compton electrons due
size effect on the transport of electrons in the microwires is due to to interaction of high energy g-radiation with the matter. These
surface and grain boundary scattering within the microwires primary electrons further recoil to produce secondary electrons
[31,32]. The two most important theories that qualitatively explain that carry the energy of the primary photon. The knock-on collision
the effect of scattering in thin films were proposed by Mayadas- between recoiled electron and copper atoms leads to Frenkel
Shatzkes (MS) [33] and Fuchs-Sondheimer (FS) [34]. Their work defect. There is displacement of the copper atoms from their lattice
was further extended to the case of 1D wires [35e37]. According to position to an interstitial site creating a vacancy at the original site
the FS model, the resistivity r is given by Ref. [38]: and an interstitial defect at the new location within the same
244 R. Gupta et al. / Vacuum 148 (2018) 239e247

Fig. 4. EDAX spectra of Cu microwires: (a) pristine; (bee) gamma radiation exposed at dose 30 kGy, 80 kGy, 130 kGy and 180 kGy respectively.

element without any changes in chemical properties. Flukiger et al.

[39] has also observed similar defects in copper. The interstitial etE
Vd ¼ (9)
atoms act as scattering sites and the vacancies at the original sites me
trap the conduction electrons leading to decrease in mean free path
that finally leads to decrease in conductivity of the metallic Where, t is the mean free time between two collisions (interstitials
microwires as governed by Drude model [40e42]. copper atoms, atoms vibrating about their mean position), E is an
applied electric field, Vd is the average velocity of the electrons.
 R. Gupta et al. / Vacuum 148 (2018) 239e247 245

Table 2 Where, E is the applied electric field, J is the current density. When
Texture coefficient of pre- and post-gamma radiation exposed Cu microwires. no electric field is applied the net displacement of the electrons on
Planes Gamma radiation Exposure Dose zero. But on the application of electric field electron experiences an
Pristine 30 80 130 180
acceleration in a particular direction along with random motion.
The electron accelerates in particular direction under the action of
111 0.696 0.487 0.571 0.695 0.853
electric field and then suddenly collides with frenkel defects and
220 1.143 1.337 1.749 1.368 1.160
311 1.509 1.675 1.097 1.156 1.468 loses the gained velocity Thus, the average velocity on the appli-
222 0.650 0.499 0.583 0.783 0.520 cation of electric field is governed by equation (10). (Fig. 8) shows
that increase in current with increase in electric field at a particular
dose which further increases with increase in electric field and we
Here, meet is a constant for a particular dose and is denoted by a obtain a linear curve. The number of defects continuously increases
symbol md (drift mobility). On rearranging, equation (9) becomes with an increase in gamma dose [43] and dimension of the wires
[25]. We observe a decrease in conductivity with increase in fluence
Vd ¼ md E due to a decrease in relaxation time which further decrease the
average velocity of the electrons as governed by equation (9) that
et finally leads to decrease in conductivity with increase in fluence.
Where md ¼ (10) The EDAX reveals that with the increase in gamma dose the content
me
of Oxygen that diffuses into the Cu microwires increases (Fig. 5).
Equation (10) relates drift mobility of electrons to the mean These oxygen atoms act as impurity carriers that also decreases the
scattering time that is governed by microscopic processes like lat- conductivity of the microwires [44]. The impurity atoms distort the
tice vibrations, crystal imperfections and impurities. cross section that scatters the electron. Since the distortion induced
According to Ohm's law current density is related to electric by impurity may extend to number of atomic distances, the im-
field as purity atoms also, therefore, hinder the motion of electrons. Now
effectively there are two types of electron scattering: one due to
J ¼ Eenmd (11)

Fig. 5. Variation in oxygen content with increase in gamma radiation exposure dose of the Cu microwires.
246 R. Gupta et al. / Vacuum 148 (2018) 239e247

1 1 1
r¼ ¼ þ (13)
enmd enml enmi
Since the oxygen content and defects increases with an increase
in exposure time, this leads to decrease in drift mobility
ðml and mi Þ:This decrese in dirft velocity leads to increase in re-
sistivity that further decreases the conductivity. Thus, the grain
boundaries can be regarded as potential barriers which are
randomly distributed in the material and as governed by MS model
and reflect the electrons that leads to decrease in conductivity. The
decrease in electron drift mobility arising due to increase in defects
and inclusion of oxygen impurity in the microwires (governed by
Drude model and Matthiessen's rule) also plays an important role.

4. Conclusions

The effect of gamma radiation exposure at four different doses

Fig. 6. Refined XRD spectra of Cu microwires: (a) pristine; (bee) gamma radiation
exposed at dose 30 kGy, 80 kGy, 130 kGy and 180 kGy respectively.
defects and other due to impurity. According to the Matthiessen's
rule [32,45], the total drift mobility (md Þ is summation of lattice
scattering limited drift mobility ðml Þ and impurity scattering limited
drift velocity ðmi Þ given by formula,
1 1 1 exposure dose due to diffusion of oxygen during irradiation. An
¼ þ
md ml mi
Using equation (11), the above formula rearranges as
(30, 80, 130 and 180 kGy) on the physico-chemical and electrical
properties of Cu microwires synthesized via template based elec-
trochemical deposition, has been studied. The SEM results show
that after exposure to g-radiation no change in the morphology of
microwires was observed. In XRD pattern variation in the relative
intensity of the peaks was observed with increase in gamma
exposure dose that signified a change in preferred orientation of
the planes in the microwires after gamma exposure. EDAX spectra
revealed an increase in oxygen content in the microwires with
(12) increase in crystallite size and decrease in lattice strain was
observed with increase in gamma dose due to the merging of grain
boundaries by thermal energy imparted by g-radiation. A decrease

Table 3
Refined cell parameters for pristine and gamma radiation exposed samples.

Parameters Pristine Gamma dose (kGy)

30 80 130 180

Crystal System Cubic Cubic Cubic Cubic Cubic

Cell length, a ¼ b ¼ c (Å) 3.6150(01) 3.6149(08) 3.6150(05) 3.6149(07) 3.6157(03)

Cell angle a ¼ b ¼ g ( ) 90 90 90 90 90
Volume, (Å3) 47.2529 47.2465 47.2526 47.2463 47.2695
Rp 15.9 19.5 17.3 13.7 14.3
Rwp 23.3 22.3 20.7 18.1 17.4
c2 3.95 4.79 3.91 3.60 2.38

Fig. 7. Variation in crystallite size and strain with the gamma radiation exposure dose
on the Cu microwires. Fig. 8. Linear fit I-V graph of pristine and gamma radiation exposed Cu microwires.
 R. Gupta et al. / Vacuum 148 (2018) 239e247
Fig. 9. Variation in Reflection coefficient (R) with the gamma radiation exposure dose
on the Cu microwires.
Fig. 10. Variation in conductivity with the gamma radiation exposure dose of the Cu
microwires.
in electrical conductivity is observed due to grain boundaries, de-
fects and inclusion of oxygen that has been discussed in terms of
MS model, Drude model and Matthiessen's rule.
Acknowledgements
One of the authors Dr. Rajesh Kumar, acknowledge the financial
support received vide FRGS Project No. GGSIPU/DRC/Ph.D./Adm./
2016/1561 for carrying out this work. The authors wish to
acknowledge the help received from the Director, Inter University
Accelerator Center (IUAC), New Delhi, India for providing gamma
radiation exposure as well as other instrumentation facilities.
247
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2017.11.031.
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