Search

As superconducting niobium radio-frequency (SRF) cavities approach fundamental material limits, there is increased interest in understanding the details of topographical influences on realized performance limitations. Micro- and nano-roughness are implicated in both direct geometrical field enhancements as well as complications of the composition of the 50 nm surface layer in which the super-currents typically flow. Interior surface chemical treatments such as buffered chemical polishing (BCP) and electropolishing (EP) used to remove mechanical damage leave surface topography, including pits and protrusions of varying sharpness. These may promote RF magnetic field entry, locally quenching superconductivity, so as to degrade cavity performance. A more incisive analysis of surface topography than the widely used average roughness is needed. In this study, a power spectral density (PSD) approach based on Fourier analysis of surface topography data acquired by both stylus profilometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM) is introduced to distinguish the scale-dependent smoothing effects, resulting in a novel qualitative and quantitative description of Nb surface topography. The topographical evolution of the Nb surface as a function of different steps of well-controlled EP is discussed. This study will greatly help to identify optimum EP parameter sets for controlled and reproducible surface levelling of Nb for cavity production.

The performance of niobium superconducting radiofrequency (SRF) accelerator cavities is strongly impacted by the topmost several nanometers of the active (interior) surface, especially as influenced by the final surface conditioning treatments. We examined the effect of the most commonly employed treatment, buffered chemical polishing (BCP), on polycrystalline niobium sheet over a range of realistic solution flow rates using electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD), stylus profilometry, atomic force microscopy, laboratory XPS and synchrotron (variable photon energy) XPS, seeking to collect statistically significant datasets. We found that the predominant general surface orientation is (1 0 0), but others are also present and at the atomic-level details of surface plane orientation are more complex. The post-etch surface exhibits micron-scale roughness, whose extent does not change with treatment conditions. The outermost surface consists of a few-nm thick layer of niobium pentoxide, whose thickness increases with solution flow rate to a maximum of 1.3–1.4 times that resulting from static solution. The standard deviation of the roughness measurements is ±30% and that of the surface composition is ±5%.

The reactivity of the surface of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) film under 172 nm UV irradiation (xenon excimer lamp) towards nitrogen-borne 1-octene, n-nonane and heptafluorodecene vapor was investigated. Materials receiving from 0 to 24 J/cm2 of UV were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF/SIMS), water and mineral oil contact angle measurement and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A uniform nanoscale layer developed on PET surface attributed to the grafting reaction between photolytically-produced polymer radicals and vapor phase molecules.

The prospects of obtaining desired surface-mediated characteristics while retaining bulk-mediated physical properties and avoiding potential environmental issues with wet chemical technology lends considerable appeal to photochemical approaches. We investigated the response of poly(ethylene terephthalate) to 172 nm UV from a xenon excimer lamp in the absence of oxygen, using XPS, ToF/SIMS, and AFM. The main effects are increasing loss of a CO moiety and carboxylic acid production without effect on topography upto a total fluence of 16 J/cm 2 . Above this level no further change in surface chemistry was evident, but surfaces became rougher, suggesting the onset of etching.

Irradiation of PET with 172 nm UV light in the absence of oxygen induces carbonyl elimination and carboxylic acid formation. Using ToF/SIMS to examine irradiated and as received materials with and without deuteration provides insight into the mechanisms. A Norrish type II mechanism is indicated for acid group formation and the mechanism of Day and Wiles [J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 16 (1972) 175; Polym. Lett. 9 (1971) 665] for decarbonylation.