Contribution a l'etude de la determination du fluor a la surface des metaux par detection des photons gamma prompts de la reaction19F(p, αγ)16O

The 837 keV resonance is used for the rapid and non-destructive determination of the gradient of fluorine on the surface of metallic samples. The precise yield curve of this resonance for thick target and the experimental sensitivity of the method have been determined. With this method less than 5·10^?4 μg·cm^?2 fluorine content can be measured. The resolution is of the order of 1000 Å in aluminium and the concentration profiles can be measured to the depth of 1 μm. The time requirement of a surface analysis is 15–30 min, and 2–3 hrs of a gradient measurement. In addition, this method is simpler and more sensitive than the detection of the 1350 keV alpha-particles from the¹⁹F(p, α_o)¹⁶O reaction.