TiN coated aluminum electrodes for DC high voltage electron guns

Mamun, Md Abdullah A.; Elmustafa, Abdelmageed A.; Taus, Rhys; Forman, Eric; Poelker, Matthew

doi:10.1116/1.4916574

TiN coated aluminum electrodes for DC high voltage electron guns

Journal Article · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4916574· OSTI ID:1190823

Mamun, Md Abdullah A. ^[1]; Elmustafa, Abdelmageed A. ^[1]; Taus, Rhys ^[2]; Forman, Eric ^[3]; Poelker, Matthew ^[3]

Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (United States)
Loyola Marymount, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (TJNAF), Newport News, VA (United States)

Preparing electrodes made of metals like stainless steel, for use inside DC high voltage electron guns, is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. In this paper, the authors report the exceptional high voltage performance of aluminum electrodes coated with hard titanium nitride (TiN). The aluminum electrodes were comparatively easy to manufacture and required only hours of mechanical polishing using silicon carbide paper, prior to coating with TiN by a commercial vendor. The high voltage performance of three TiN-coated aluminum electrodes, before and after gas conditioning with helium, was compared to that of bare aluminum electrodes, and electrodes manufactured from titanium alloy (Ti-6AI-4V). Following gas conditioning, each TiN-coated aluminum electrode reached -225 kV bias voltage while generating less than 100 pA of field emission (<10 pA) using a 40 mm cathode/anode gap, corresponding to field strength of 13.7 MV/m. Smaller gaps were studied to evaluate electrode performance at higher field strength with the best performing TiN-coated aluminum electrode reaching ~22.5 MV/m with field emission less than 100 pA. These results were comparable to those obtained from our best-performing electrodes manufactured from stainless steel, titanium alloy and niobium, as reported in references cited below. The TiN coating provided a very smooth surface and with mechanical properties of the coating (hardness and modulus) superior to those of stainless steel, titanium-alloy, and niobium electrodes. These features likely contributed to the improved high voltage performance of the TiN-coated aluminum electrodes.

Research Organization:: Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Newport News, VA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-06OR23177

OSTI ID:: 1190823

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 22392187

Report Number(s):: JLAB-ACC--15-2090; DOE/OR/23177--3439

Journal Information:: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A, Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology A Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 33; ISSN 0734-2101; ISSN JVTAD6

Publisher:: American Vacuum SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (13)

The correlation between the electron work function and yield strength of metals Hua, Guomin; Li, Dongyang physica status solidi (b), Vol. 249, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssb.201248051	journal	April 2012
Beneficial effects of yttrium on mechanical failure and chemical stability of the passive film in 6061 aluminum alloy Ahmadi, Hojat; Nouri, Meisam Journal of Materials Science, Vol. 45, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-010-4368-9	journal	March 2010
Conditioning of a vacuum gap by sparks and ion bombardment Beukema, G. P. Physica, Vol. 61, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-8914(72)90072-9	journal	September 1972
Variable work function in MOS capacitors utilizing nitrogen-controlled TiNx gate electrodes Westlinder, Jörgen; Sjöblom, Gustaf; Olsson, Jörgen Microelectronic Engineering, Vol. 75, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2004.07.061	journal	November 2004
Improving the performance of stainless-steel DC high voltage photoelectron gun cathode electrodes via gas conditioning with helium or krypton BastaniNejad, M.; Elmustafa, A. A.; Forman, E. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 762 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2014.05.114	journal	October 2014
The work function of the elements and its periodicity Michaelson, Herbert B. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 48, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.323539	journal	November 1977
Design, conditioning, and performance of a high voltage, high brightness dc photoelectron gun with variable gap Maxson, Jared; Bazarov, Ivan; Dunham, Bruce Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 85, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4895641	journal	September 2014
Initiation of electrical breakdown in vacuum Williams, D. W.; Williams, W. T. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 6, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/6/6/316	journal	April 1973
Development of a high average current polarized electron source with long cathode operational lifetime Sinclair, C. K.; Adderley, P. A.; Dunham, B. M. Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams, Vol. 10, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.10.023501	journal	February 2007
Evaluation of niobium as candidate electrode material for dc high voltage photoelectron guns BastaniNejad, M.; Mohamed, Md. Abdullah; Elmustafa, A. A. Physical Review Special Topics - Accelerators and Beams, Vol. 15, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.15.083502	journal	August 2012
Continuous Stiffness Measurement During Instrumented Indentation Testing Hay, J.; Agee, P.; Herbert, E. Experimental Techniques, Vol. 34, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1567.2010.00618.x	journal	January 2010
Electrical Properties of Titanium Nitride Thin Films Deposited by Reactive Sputtering Kawabata, K.; Muto, T. ElectroComponent Science and Technology, Vol. 8, Issue 3-4 https://doi.org/10.1155/APEC.8.249	journal	January 1981
Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: Advances in understanding and refinements to methodology Oliver, W. C.; Pharr, G. M. Journal of Materials Research, Vol. 19, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2004.19.1.3	journal	January 2004

Cited By (2)

Electrostatic deflector studies using small prototypes Grigoryev, K.; Rathmann, F.; Stahl, A. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1812.07954	text	January 2018
Electrostatic deflector studies using small-scale prototype electrodes Grigoryev, K.; Rathmann, F.; Stahl, A. Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 90, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5086862	journal	April 2019

Similar Records

TiN coated aluminum electrodes for DC high voltage electron guns

Journal Article · Fri May 15 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films · OSTI ID:22392187

Thin film studies toward improving the performance of accelerator electron sources

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue May 31 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · OSTI ID:1411408

Related Subjects

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
aluminum
anodes
cathodes
field emission
hardness

TiN coated aluminum electrodes for DC high voltage electron guns

Citation Formats

References (13)

Cited By (2)

Similar Records

Related Subjects