Lanthanum boride, also known as lanthanum hexaboride or LaB6, is a compound of rare earth metal element La and non-metal element B. The crystal structure is a simple cube, and B atoms surround lanthanum atoms to form an octahedral structure. Due to its crystalline structure, LaB6 ceramic thin films made from lanthanum boride sputtering targets have good electrical conductivity.
Lanthanum boride sputtering target has high melting point, high strength and high hardness. The free electrons in the LaB6 structure also give it good electrical and thermal conductivity like a metal. LaB6 sputtering target has high chemical stability, only reacts with aqua regia and nitric acid at room temperature, and low oxidation between 600°C and 900°C.
Lanthanum boride for the solar industry
It is well known that lanthanum boride is a thermionic material with the ability to emit electrons. It has been extensively developed over the past 60 years since Rafferty's pioneering work on sintering hexaboride ceramics. Lanthanum boride has been used to make hot cathodes for a variety of applications, including electron guns in cathode tubes, plasma-producing cathodes, and electron microscopes. Lanthanum boride sputtering targets have been used to coat electronic components.
Renewable energies, especially the issue of solar energy development, is a key topic for the future. At present, the main technologies of concentrated solar energy systems are solar thermal power generation and concentrated photovoltaic power generation. Recently, however, a new approach to generate electricity directly from concentrated sunlight using thermionic and thermoelectric effects has been proposed.
For thermodynamic solar applications, knowledge of the optical properties of LaB6 is important. LaB6 has endothermic properties and is a thermionic material. It can be used both as a direct high-temperature solar absorber and as an electron source, significantly reducing the system complexity of future concentrating solar thermal electronics systems and bringing real innovations in this field.
Other applications of lanthanum boride
Thermionic emission (cathode), plasma source for plasma enhanced coating (PECVD), vacuum electron beam welding machine, electron beam surface modification device, electron beam lithography device, transmission electron microscope, scanning electron microscope, surface analysis device, radiation Treatment equipment.
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