The targets used in neutron generators are thin films of metal such as titanium, scandium, or zirconium which are deposited onto a silver, copper or molybdenum substrate. Titanium, scandium, and zirconium form stable chemical compounds called metal hydrides when combined with hydrogen or its isotopes. These metal hydrides are made up of two hydrogen (deuterium or tritium) atoms per metal atom and allow the target to have extremely high densities of hydrogen. This is important to maximize the neutron yield of the neutron tube. The gas reservoir element also uses metal hydrides, e.g. uranium hydride, as the active material.
Titanium is preferred to zirconium as it can withstand higher temperatures (200 °C), and gives higher neutron yield as it captures deuterons better than zirconium. The maximum temperature allowed for the target, above which hydrogen isotopes undergo desorption and escape the material, limits the ion current per surface unit of the target; slightly divergent beams are therefore used. A 1 microampere ion beam accelerated at 200 kV to a titanium-tritium target can generate up to 10 neutrons per second. The neutron yield is mostly determined by the accelerating voltage and the ion current level.
An example of a tritium target in use is a 0.2 mm thick silver disc with a 1 micrometer layer of titanium deposited on its surface; the titanium is then saturated with tritium.
Metals with sufficiently low hydrogen diffusion can be turned into deuterium targets by bombardment of deuterons until the metal is saturated. Gold targets under such condition show four times higher efficiency than titanium. Even better results can be achieved with targets made of a thin film of a high-absorption high-diffusivity metal (e.g. titanium) on a substrate with low hydrogen diffusivity (e.g. silver), as the hydrogen is then concentrated on the top layer and can not diffuse away into the bulk of the material. Using a deuterium-tritium gas mixture, self-replenishing D-T targets can be made. The neutron yield of such targets is lower than of tritium-saturated targets in deuteron beams, but their advantage is much longer lifetime and constant level of neutron production. Self-replenishing targets are also tolerant to high-temperature bake-out of the tubes, as their saturation with hydrogen isotopes is performed after the bakeout and tube sealing.