The Influence of Air Exposures and Thermal Treatments on the Secondary Electron Yield of Copper

The variation of the secondary electron yield (SEY) of sputter-cleaned OFHC-copper has been studied as a function of air exposure duration at room temperature. After short air exposures of some seconds the maximum SEY (deltaMAX) of clean copper is reduced from 1.3 to less than 1.2, due to the oxidation of the copper surface. Prolonged air exposure increases the SEY steadily until, after about 8 days of atmospheric exposure, deltaMAX is higher than 2.Air exposures at higher temperatures have been found to be effective in reducing the SEY of technical copper surfaces. A 5-minute air exposure of copper at 350°C followed by a 350°C bake-out under vacuum reduces deltaMAX to about 1.05, which is lower than the value of pure copper and that of Cu2O.