Niobium thin film deposition studies on copper surfaces for superconducting radio frequency cavity applications

Thin film coatings have the potential to increase both the thermal efficiency and accelerating gradient in superconducting radio frequency accelerator cavities. However, before this potential can be realized, systematic studies on structure-property correlations in these thin films need to be carrie...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review special topics. PRST-AB. Accelerators and beams 2012-06, Vol.15 (6), p.062002, Article 062002
Main Authors: Roach, W. M., Beringer, D. B., Skuza, J. R., Oliver, W. A., Clavero, C., Reece, C. E., Lukaszew, R. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ACCELERATORS
CAVITIES
COATINGS
COPPER
CRITICAL FIELD
Critical field (superconductivity)
CRITICAL TEMPERATURE
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DEPOSITION
GEOMETRY
Holes
MORPHOLOGY
NIOBIUM
OPTIMIZATION
Parameter modification
PARTICLE ACCELERATORS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
ROUGHNESS
Superconductivity
THERMAL EFFICIENCY
Thermodynamic efficiency
Thin film coatings
THIN FILMS
Transition temperature
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Summary:Thin film coatings have the potential to increase both the thermal efficiency and accelerating gradient in superconducting radio frequency accelerator cavities. However, before this potential can be realized, systematic studies on structure-property correlations in these thin films need to be carried out since the reduced geometry, combined with specific growth parameters, can modify the physical properties of the materials when compared to their bulk form. Here, we present our systematic studies of Nb thin films deposited onto Cu surfaces to clarify possible reasons for the limited success that this process exhibited in previous attempts. We compare these films with Nb grown on other surfaces. In particular, we study the crystal structure and surface morphology and their effect on superconducting properties, such as critical temperature and lower critical field. We found that higher deposition temperature leads to a sharper critical temperature transition, but also to increased roughness indicating that there are competing mechanisms that must be considered for further optimization.
ISSN:1098-4402
1098-4402
2469-9888
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.15.062002