Reza Valizadeh

Low secondary electron yield engineered surface for electron cloud mitigation

Secondary electron yield (SEY or δ) limits the performance of a number of devices. Particularly, in high-energy charged particle accelerators, the beam-induced electron multipacting is one of the main sources of electron cloud (e-cloud) build up on the beam path; in radio frequency wave guides, the electron multipacting limits their lifetime and causes power loss; and in detectors, the secondary electrons define the signal background and reduce the sensitivity. The best solution would be a material with a low SEY coating and for many applications δ < 1 would be sufficient. We report on an alternative surface preparation to the ones that are currently advocated. Three commonly used materials in accelerator vacuum chambers (stainless steel, copper, and aluminium) were laser processed to create a highly regular surface topography. It is shown that this treatment reduces the SEY of the copper, aluminium, and stainless steel from δmax of 1.90, 2.55, and 2.25 to 1.12, 1.45, and 1.12, respectively. The δmax furt...

Influence of deposition pressure and pulsed dc sputtering on pumping properties of Ti–Zr–V nonevaporable getter films

The performance of a UHV vessel can be improved with a new CERN technology nonevaporable getter (NEG) coating, which is already widely used for accelerator vacuum chambers. Better understanding of the processes involved in NEG film deposition, activation, and poisoning should allow optimization and engineering of the film properties, which are necessary for a particular application. Ti–Zr–V NEG films were created by magnetron sputtering from a single Ti–Zr–V target, and the NEG performance and morphology dependence on deposition pressure, sputtering conditions, and substrate surface roughness have been investigated. It was found that the average grain size of the Ti–Zr–V film was 5–6 nm and was broadly independent of the substrate material and deposition conditions. However, film topography and density were shown to depend very much on the substrate surface roughness and deposition conditions. Rough substrates, high working pressures, and the absence of ion bombardment produced open columnar structures, w...

Electron stimulated desorption from bare and nonevaporable getter coated stainless steels

An installation for investigation of the electron stimulated desorption (ESD) from both pumping and nonpumping tubular samples was designed and built. This installation allows studying ESD and sample sticking probability as a function of electron dose up to about 1023 e−/m2, electron energy in the range 10 eV–6.5 keV, and sampling temperature in the range 0–80 °C. Two samples were investigated: bare and Ti–Zr–V coated stainless steels. The ESD yields were measured as a function of electron accumulated dose, electron energy, and different NEG coating activation temperatures. The effect of electron stimulated pumping of CO saturated NEG coating was demonstrated for the first time and is in a good agreement with the effect of photon stimulated NEG activation measured earlier.

Activation and measurement of nonevaporable getter films

An experimental setup for studying the pumping and capacity properties of nonevaporable getter (NEG)-coated films has been designed and built in the ASTeC Vacuum Science Laboratory at Daresbury Laboratory. The measurement system is based on the dynamic expansion method with a gas injection system that is capable of injecting the residual gases present in a typical UHV system, such as H2, CO, CO2, and CH4. The test particle Monte Carlo model was used for accurate evaluation of NEG film sticking probability from the pressure reading during gas injection. The experimental measurements with NEG-coated samples have shown that the NEG film can be poisoned during the NEG film activation (and/or regeneration) by molecules of CO and CO2 desorbed from uncoated parts of the vacuum chamber. The effect of NEG film poisoning was reduced by lowering the temperature of the uncoated parts of the vacuum chamber during the NEG film activation and, as a result, a new activation procedure was developed for vacuum systems cont...

Comparison of Ti-Zr-V nonevaporable getter films deposited using alloy or twisted wire sputter-targets

A comparison of the performance of nonevaporable getter (NEG) films deposited using two different types of targets has been made to find the one that has the best pumping properties. For the first time, the NEG coating was deposited using a preformed Ti-Zr-V alloy target. The NEG film characterization and pumping properties have been studied in comparison with a film deposited using the commonly used three-wire twisted target. It was demonstrated that the alloy target produces a NEG coating with uniform composition both laterally and in depth. The composition of the film was found to be the same as the target. Film topography and microstructure with 5 nm grain sizes were found to be the same for both targets. The main result is that the activation temperature of the NEG coating deposited using the Ti-Zr-V alloy target is 160 °C, which is 20 °C lower than for NEG coatings deposited using three twisted wires.

Electron-stimulated desorption from polished and vacuum fired 316LN stainless steel coated with Ti-Zr-Hf-V

In this study, two identical 316LN stainless steel tubular samples, which had previously been polished and vacuum-fired and then used for the electron-stimulated desorption (ESD) experiments, were coated with Ti-Zr-Hf-V with different morphologies: columnar and dense. ESD measurement results after nonevaporable getter (NEG) activation to 150, 180, 250, and 350 °C indicated that the values for the ESD yields are significantly (2–20 times) lower than the data from our previous study with similar coatings on nonvacuum-fired samples. Based on these results, the lowest pressure and best long-term performance in particle accelerators will be achieved with a vacuum-fired vacuum chamber coated with dense Ti-Zr-Hf-V coating activated at 180 °C. This is likely due to the following facts: after NEG activation, the hydrogen concentration inside the NEG was lower than in the bulk stainless steel substrate; the NEG coating created a barrier for gas diffusion from the sample bulk to vacuum; the dense NEG coating performed better as a barrier than the columnar NEG coating.

Physical vapour deposition of NbTiN thin films for superconducting RF cavities.

The production of superconducting coatings for radio frequency (RF) cavities is a rapidly developing field that should ultimately lead to acceleration gradients greater than those obtained by bulk Nb RF cavities. The use of thin films made from superconductors with thermodynamic critical field, Hc > HC(Nb), allows the possibility of multilayer superconductor – insulator – superconductor (SIS) films and accelerators that could operate at temperatures above 2 K. SIS films theoretically allow increased acceleration gradient due to magnetic shielding of underlying superconducting layers [1] and higher operating temperature can reduce cost [2]. High impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) and pulsed DC magnetron sputtering processes were used to deposit NbTiN thin films onto Si(100) substrate. The films were characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), Rutherford back-scattering spectroscopy (RBS) and a four-point probe.

Pumping and electron-stimulated desorption properties of a dual-layer nonevaporable getter

The ASTeC Vacuum Science Group has an ongoing study for the improvement of the nonevaporable getter (NEG) coatings currently used in many accelerators around the world. The main advantages of using NEG coatings are evenly distributed pumping speed, low thermal outgassing rates, and low photon-stimulated gas desorption and electron-stimulated gas desorption (ESD). Previously, it was shown that the dense NEG coating provides lower ESD compared to that of a columnar film, but its pumping properties are reduced. This paper describes the results for a dual layer of NEG where a dense layer was deposited first and a columnar layer was then deposited on top. In such a dual-layer NEG coating, the dense layer acted as a barrier for hydrogen diffusion and the columnar layer further reduced the ESD of hydrogen and provided improved pumping properties. An alloy target of Ti-Zr-Hf-V was used to deposit a 0.5 μm-thick layer of the dense NEG followed by a 1 μm-thick columnar structure of NEG onto the inner surface of a 5...

CVD Deposition of Nb Based Materials for SRF Cavities

Bulk niobium cavities are widely employed in particle accelerators to create high accelerating gradient despite their high material and operation cost. Advancements in technology have taken bulk niobium close to its theoretical operational limits, pushing the research to explore novel materials, such as niobium based alloys. Nitrides of niobium offer such an alternative, exhibiting a higher Tc compared to bulk niobium. Replacing then the niobium with a material with better thermal conductivity, such as copper, coated with thin films of nitrides in a multilayer S-I-S would lead to improved performance at reduced cost. Physical vapour deposition (PVD) is currently used to produce these coatings, but it suffers from lack of conformity. This issue can be resolved by using chemical vapour deposition (CVD), which is able to produce high quality coatings over surfaces with a high aspect ratio. This project explores the use of CVD techniques to deposit NbN thin films starting from their chlorinated precursors. The samples obtained are characterized via SEM, FIB, XRD, and EDX.