ODU, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
JLAB, Newport News, Virginia, USA
Plasma based surface modifications of SRF cavities present promising alternatives to the wet etching technology currently applied. To understand and characterize the plasma properties and chemical kinetics of plasma etching processes inside a single cell cavity, we have built a specially-designed cylindrical cavity with 8 observation ports. These ports can be used for holding niobium samples and diagnostic purposes simultaneously. Two frequencies (13.56 MHz and 2.45 GHz) of power source are used for different pressure, power and gas compositions. The plasma parameters were evaluated by a Langmuir probe and by an optical emission spectroscopy technique based on the relative intensity of two Ar 5p-4s lines at 419.8 and 420.07 nm. Argon 5p-4s transition is chosen to determine electron temperature in order to optimize parameters for plasma processing. Chemical kinetics of the process was observed using real-time mass spectroscopy. The effect of these parameters on niobium surface would be measured, presented at this conference, and used as guidelines for optimal design of SRF etching process.
JLAB, Newport News, Virginia, USA
JLab, Newport News, Virginia, USA
BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York, USA
Within any thin film development program directed towards SRF accelerating structures, there is a need for an RF characterization device that can provide information about RF properties of small samples. The current installation of the RF characterization device at Jefferson Lab is Surface Impedance Characterization (SIC) system. The data acquisition environment for the system has recently been improved to allow for automated quicker measurement, and the system has been routinely used for characterization of bulk Nb, films of Nb on Cu, MgB2, NbTiN, Nb3Sn films, etc. We present some of the recent results that illustrate present capabilities and limitations of the system.
JLAB, Newport News, Virginia, USA
For the past 19 years Jefferson Lab has sustained a program studying niobium films deposited on small samples in order to develop an understanding of the correlation between deposition parameters, film micro-structure, and RF performance. A new cavity deposition system employing a cylindrical cathode using the HiPIMS technique has been developed to apply this work to cylindrical cavities. The status of this system will be presented.
JLAB, Newport News, Virginia, USA
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA
ANL, Argonne, USA
JLab, Newport News, Virginia, USA
UIC, Chicago, USA
In the pursuit of niobium (Nb) films with similar performance with the commonly used bulk Nb surfaces for Superconducting RF (SRF) applications, significant progress has been made with the development of energetic condensation deposition techniques. Using energetic condensation of ions extracted from plasma generated by Electron Cyclotron Resonance, it has been demonstrated that Nb films with good structural properties and RRR comparable to bulk values can be produced on metallic substrates. The controlled incoming ion energy enables a number of processes such as desorption of adsorbed species, enhanced mobility of surface atoms and sub-implantation of impinging ions, thus producing improved film structures at lower process temperatures. Particular attention is given to the nucleation conditions to create a favorable template for growing the final surface exposed to SRF fields. The influence of the deposition energy for both hetero-epitaxial and fiber growth modes on copper substrates is investigated with the characterization of the film surface, structure, superconducting properties and RF performance.
JLAB, Newport News, Virginia, USA
NCSU AIF, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, USA
JLab, Newport News, Virginia, USA
NSU, Norfolk, USA
For the past three decades, bulk niobium has been the material of choice for SRF cavities applications. RF cavity performance is now approaching the theoretical limit for bulk niobium. For further improvement of RF cavity performance for future accelerator projects, Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) multilayer structures (as recently proposed by Alex Gurevich) present the theoretical prospect to reach RF performance beyond bulk Nb, using thinly layered higher-Tc superconductors with enhanced Hc1. Jefferson Lab (JLab) is pursuing this approach with the development of NbTiN and AlN based multilayer SIS structures via magnetron sputtering and High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS). This paper presents the results on the characteristics of NbTiN and insulator films and the first RF measurements on NbTiN-based multilayer structure on thick Nb films.
JLAB, Newport News, Virginia, USA
Over the years, Nb/Cu technology, despite its shortcomings due to the commonly used magnetron sputtering, has positioned itself as an alternative route for the future of accelerator superconducting structures. Avenues for the production of thin films tailored for Superconducting RF (SRF) applications are showing promise with recent developments in ionized PVD coating techniques, i.e. vacuum deposition techniques using energetic ions. Among these techniques, High power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) is a promising emerging technique which combines magnetron sputtering with a pulsed power approach. This contribution describes the benefits of energetic condensation for SRF films and the characteristics of the HiPIMS technology. It describes the on-going efforts pursued in different institutions to exploit the potential of this technology to produce bulk-like Nb films and go beyond Nb performance with the development of film systems, based on other superconducting materials and multilayer structures.
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, USA
JLAB, Newport News, Virginia, USA
JLab, Newport News, Virginia, USA
TU, Philadelphia, USA
Due to the very shallow penetration depth of the RF fields, SRF properties are inherently a surface phenomenon involving a material thickness of less than 1 micron thus opening up the possibility of using thin film coatings to achieve a desired performance. The challenge has been to understand the dependence of the SRF properties on the detailed characteristics of real surfaces and then to employ appropriate techniques to tailor these surface properties for greatest benefit. Our aim is to achieve gradients >100 MV/m and no simple material is known to be capable of sustaining this performance. A theoretical framework has been proposed which could yield such behavior [1] and it requires creation of thin film layered structures. I will present our systematic studies on such proof-of-principle samples. Our overarching goal has been to build a basic understanding of key nano-scale film growth parameters for materials that show promise for SRF cavity multilayer coatings and to demonstrate the ability to elevate the barrier for vortex entry in such layered structures above the bulk value of Hc1 for type-II superconductors and thus to sustain higher accelerating fields.
[1]. A. Gurevich, Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 012511 (2006).
WEIOC03
ANL, Argonne, USA
JLAB, Newport News, Virginia, USA
Fermilab, Batavia, USA
IIT, Chicago, Illinois, USA
I will present a summary of the work done over the last 2 years that encompasses both coupons study of thin superconducting films and multilayers and preliminary superconducting RF cavity tests coated by ALD. I will also present results of Nb onto Copper.