Author: Yin Meng ; Type of thesis: Master Thesis
Abstract: Particle physics is now at the threshold of great discoveries. The experiments with particle accelerators and observations of the cosmos have focused attention on phenomena that can not be explained by the standard theory. The technology based on superconducting niobium accelerating cavities can reach a high expenditure of energy by many orders of magnitude lower than that of normal-conducting copper cavities. Even taking into account the power spent to maintain the temperature of liquid helium, the net gain in economic terms is still unassailable.
The sputtering technology was chosen first in the pure diode configuration and subsequently in the magnetron configuration. High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) is an evolution of the magnetron technique which relies on 100μs high voltage pulses of the order of 1 kV compared to the 300 V of the standard DC magnetron process. During the pulse a huge power density is deposited onto the target, of the order of a few kW/cm2 compared to a few W/cm2 of the standard DC process, producing a highly dense plasma in which also the Nb atoms are partially ionized. These can in turn be attracted to the substrate with a suitable bias. A further advantage of the technique lies in the fact that no hardware changes are required compared to a standard DC biased magnetron system, except for the obvious replacement of the power supply.
In this work, an R&D effort has been undertaken to study the HIPIMS, to improve it and understand the correlation between the parameters applied and the film morphology, the superconducting properties and the RF film quality.
The experiment system is based on the NEW HIGH-RATE SYSTEM for the deposition cavity 1.5 GHz. The experimental details and the measurements of the characteristics of the deposited films are described. Even though the work is still in progress, all of the partial results from now on have been analyzed and commented, in order to extrapolate all the information. The final results are a global overview of the HIPIMS techniques for Nb on 1.5Hz superconducting cavity. Suggestions for future efforts have been included as part of the conclusions.