Abstract: A method is disclosed for coating substantially pure boron or highly boron-rich borides in a controlled manner. Such a method of coating of boron has a variety of applications, including surface chemical and wear protection, neutron absorption, prevention of impurity emission from heated filaments and ion beams, elimination of metal dust from vacuum systems, boridizing, boron cluster emission, and reactive chemistry. Borides with a boron-to-metal ratio of 20 or more are known to exist and may be used as a feedstock for substantially pure boron coatings for deposition processes requiring feedstock electrical conductivity, and/or enhanced reactivity. While most metal borides coincidentally produce significant metal vapor as a by-product, certain borides of yttrium, holmium, erbium, thulium, terbium, gadolinium, and lutetium have been identified as capable of producing substantially pure boron vapor.

Abstract: The presence of trace molecules in air is often determined using high sensitivity gas sensing instruments, such as an ion mobility spectrometer. Such devices are commonly utilized in the fields of explosives detection, identification of narcotics, and in applications characterized by the presence of very low airborne concentrations of organic molecules of special interest. The sensitivity of such instruments is dependent on the concentration of target gas in the sample. The sampling efficiency can be greatly improved when the target object is warmed, even by only a few degrees. A directed emission of photons in the range between infrared and ultraviolet light can be used to significantly enhance vapor emission.