Low Secondary Electron Yield Carbon Coatings for Electron-cloud Mitigation in Modern Particle Accelerators

Electron-cloud is one of the main limitations for particle accelerators with positively charged beams of high intensity and short bunch spacing, as the SPS at CERN. The Secondary Electron Yield (SEY) of the inner surface of the vacuum chamber is the main parameter governing the phenomenon. The effect could be eliminated by coating the vacuum chambers with a material of low SEY, which does not require bake-out and is robust against air exposure. For such a purpose amorphous carbon (a-C) coatings were produced by magnetron sputtering of graphite targets. They exhibit maximum SEY between 0.95 and 1.05 after air transfer to the measuring instrument. After 1 month of air exposure the SEY rises by 10 - 20 % of the initial values. Storage in desiccator or by packaging in Al foil makes this increase negligible. The coatings have a similar X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) C1s spectrum for a large set of deposition parameters and exhibit an enlarged linewidth compared to HOPG graphite. The static outgassing without bake-out depends on deposition parameters and is in a range from 1 to 10 times higher than that of stainless steel (StSt). Instead, the electron stimulated desorption is lower than for stainless steel and is leaded by CO