NB Coating Developments with HIPIMS for SRF Applications

In the last few years the interest of the thin film science and technology community on High Impulse Power Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS) coatings has steadily increased. HIPIMS literature shows that better thin film morphology, denser and smoother films can be achieved when compared with standard dc Magnetron Sputtering (dcMS) coating technology [1]. Furthermore the capability of HIPIMS to produce a high quantity of ionized species [2,3] can allow conformal coatings also for complex geometries. A study is under way at CERN to apply this technology for the Nb coating of SRF 1.3-1.5 GHz Cu cavities, and in parallel at SHU the plasma physics and its correlation with film morphology are being investigated [2]. Recent results achieved with this technique are presented in the paper.