Survey of Simple Carbon Compounds for Use in a Negative Ion Sputter Source

We present a survey of carbon beam yields from 20 simple carbon compounds using a caesium sputter source and the McMaster University tandem accelerator. The carbon yield was measured as a 35MeV 12C4+ beam. We found that the beam intensities could be related to a grouping of the carbides according to the chemical bonding of the compounds. The usefulness of the compounds for accelerator 14C dating was further related to their preparation chemistries. Strontium carbide was the equal of graphite in negative carbon ion beam production and aluminum carbide was found to be a good candidate for further tests because of its good sputter yield and preparation chemistry. Charcoal was also tested with varying amounts of silver added as a heat conduction aid.