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Title: High Gradient Accelerator Cavities Using Atomic Layer Deposition

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1165161· OSTI ID:1165161
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Calabazas Creek Research, Inc., San Mateo, CA (United States)
  2. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
  3. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

In the Phase I program, Calabazas Creek Research, Inc. (CCR), in collaboration with North Carolina State University (NCSU), fabricated copper accelerator cavities and used Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) to apply thin metal coatings of tungsten and platinum. It was hypothesized that a tungsten coating would provide a robust surface more resistant to arcing and arc damage. The platinum coating was predicted to reduce processing time by inhibiting oxides that form on copper surfaces soon after machining. Two sets of cavity parts were fabricated. One was coated with 35 nm of tungsten, and the other with approximately 10 nm of platinum. Only the platinum cavity parts could be high power tested during the Phase I program due to schedule and funding constraints. The platinum coated cavity exhibit poor performance when compared with pure copper cavities. Not only did arcing occur at lower power levels, but the processing time was actually longer. There were several issues that contributed to the poor performance. First, machining of the base copper cavity parts failed to achieve the quality and cleanliness standards specified to SLAC National Accelerator Center. Secondly, the ALD facilities were not configured to provide the high levels of cleanliness required. Finally, the nanometer coating applied was likely far too thin to provide the performance required. The coating was ablated or peeled from the surface in regions of high fields. It was concluded that the current ALD process could not provide improved performance over cavities produced at national laboratories using dedicated facilities.

Research Organization:
Calabazas Creek Research, Inc., San Mateo, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Contributing Organization:
North Carolina State University; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
DOE Contract Number:
SC0011228
OSTI ID:
1165161
Report Number(s):
DOE-CCR-11228
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English