Alpha-Be neutron source construction

["Jeffrey A. Leavey (532-4595 / 5-3466)" <certhp@VNET.IBM.COM>]

Two question on alpha/Be neutron sources: is there any reason
why I should not expect to see neutrons when a Be foil is exposed
in contact with Po-210?? The texts say I can expect about 80
neutrons per 1E6 disintegrations of Po-210. Granted these
sources have the Po and Be intimately mixed, but is it
practical to expect SOME neutrons from a foil exposed to
enough bulk Po-210 on a bench top?  Would normal environmental
oxide on the foil surface be enough to stop the alphas?? Any one
know what the threshold energy is for Be(a,n) ???

For FMY (for my info), what are the details of how Be(a,n)
sources are made? Any tricks-of-the-trade??

Thanks for any help!!!

Jeff
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Jeffrey Leavey                          certhp@vnet.ibm.com
X-ray Lithography Program                         IBM Corp.
914-892-4595                       East Fishkill, NY  12533
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