Title: HIPIMS Development for Superconducting Cavities
Author: Giovanni Terenziani
Institution: CERN
Abstract: HIPIMS is gaining large consensus around the world as a possible solution to overcome the problems faced with standard dcMS for the superconductive thin film coatings on copper RF cavities. Given the wide parameter space available with HIPIMS it is informative to draw out th relationship between plasma parameters microstructure and quality of the film produced. Influence of different discharge settings (pulse width, current density and frequency) has been studied in order to improve film performance. Samples have been produced in order to analyse the film microstructure, correlated to the plasma parameters, as well as superconductive properties. The microstructure showed an interesting behaviour, with the grain size increasing with the peak discharge current; the Residual Resistance Ratio (RRR) is inversely proportional to the current for short pulse widths, while it is directly proportional to the current for longer pulse widths. This seems to be related to an increasing number of grains with (110) crystallographic orientation in the deposited film. The performance of superconductive cavities produced with HIPIMS is comparable with some of the best dcMS coated ones. Interesting results are obtained with OES and MS comparing argon and krypton process gases. In particular more energetic ions are produced when using krypton as process gas due to the longer mean free path for elastic collisions for the same pressure. Experiments on cavities have been conducted at CERN while samples have been prepared both at Sheffield Hallam University and at CERN. This allows us to make a comparison between the two different experimental setups. Results on plasma analysis, superconductive properties and film morphology will be presented as well as the performance of the latest HIPIMS-coated cavities.
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