Beryllium carbide (Be₂C) thin films have proven to be promising ablation materials, but the properties of Be₂C coatings of the greater thickness required for inertial confinement fusion capsules are still unknown. In this work, Be₂C coatings of various thicknesses (0.3–32.9 μm) are prepared by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The influence of thickness on crystal properties, microstructure, and optical properties is investigated. The results indicate that the crystallinity of polycrystalline Be₂C films improves with increasing thickness, while the grain size (～5 nm) and texture properties (without a preferred orientation) have only a weak dependence on thickness. A uniform featureless microstructure and smooth surface (root mean square roughness ～8 nm) are observed even in thick (32.9 μm) films, despite the presence of defects induced by contaminants. High densities (2.19–2.31 g/cm³) and high deposition rates (～270 nm/h) are realized, with the latter corresponding to the upper limit for the fabrication of Be₂C coatings by magnetron sputtering. The transmittance of the films in the near-infrared region remains at a high level (>80%) and has only a weak dependence on thickness, while the transmittance in the visible region decreases with increasing thickness. In addition, the optical bandgap is estimated to be about 1.9 eV and decreases with increasing thickness owing to the presence of defects.

The Be-based materials with many particular properties lead to an important research subject. The investigation progresses in the fabrication technologies are introduced here, including main three kinds of Be-based materials, such as Be–Cu capsule, $\text{Be}_{2}\text{C}$ ablator and high-purity Be material. Compared with the pioneer workgroup on Be-based materials, the differences in Be–Cu target fabrication were described, and a grain refinement technique by an active hydrogen reaction for Be coating was proposed uniquely. $\text{Be}_{2}\text{C}$ coatings were first prepared by the DC reactive magnetron sputtering with a high deposition rate $({\sim}300~\text{nm}/\text{h})$. Pure polycrystalline $\text{Be}_{2}\text{C}$ films with uniform microstructures, smooth surface, high density $({\sim}2.2~\text{g}\cdot \text{cm}^{3})$ and good optical transparency were fabricated. In addition, the high-purity Be materials with metal impurities in a ppm magnitude were fabricated by the pyrolysis of organometallic Be.