The Influence of an Air Exposure on the Secondary Electron Yield of Copper

The influence of different air exposure times on the secondary electron emission of clean copper surfaces as well as on technical copper surfaces has been studied in the context of the phenomenon of multipacting, which can limit the performance of superconducting radio-frequency (RF) cavities for particle acceleration. The copper samples were prepared by heat treatments and in situ sputter-etching and they were investigated with a instrument for SEY measurements, by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and by Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). After short air exposures of some seconds the maximum secondary electron yield dmax of clean copper is reduced from 1.3 to less than 1.2, due to the oxidation of the copper surface. Subsequent air exposure increases the secondary electron yield (SEY) until, after about 8 days exposure dmax is higher than 2. Clean copper samples were also exposed to the single gases present in air to find out the reasons for the dramatic increase of the SEY after long lasting air exposures. Only oxygen and water were found to affect secondary electron emission. An oxygen exposure decreases the SEY, while pure water exposure increases the SEY, but no single gas exposure changes dmax more than 0.2. Different methods have been tried in order to reduce the secondary electron yield of technical copper surfaces. For instance a 5 minutes air exposure of copper at 350 °C followed by a 350 °C bakeout reduces dmax to values close to unity. This procedure was applied to the outer, copper plated conductor of the LEP2 power couplers and its influence on pre-conditioning was tested. The results are promising but further tests are needed to confirm a beneficial effect of this treatment.