Speakers
Description
Coating superconducting Nb3Sn thin film on the inner surface of a superconducting RF cavity is one of the most promising approaches to improve the performance of the accelerating cavity. Compared with traditional tin deposition and sputtering processes, electrochemical coating has the advantages on process simplicity, low cost and mass production. In this paper, Electrochemical and thermal synthesis of superconducting Nb3Sn films were studied. The Nb3Sn films were obtained by 700 °C ex-situ vacuum annealing of electrochemically deposited bronze layer on Nb substrates. Precursors were prepared via electrochemical deposition with aqueous electrolyte at room temperature. Samples were then precisely electropolished to remove the a-few- micrometres of remnant bronze phase on top of the surface and then characterized. Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB-SEM) measured the thickness of the Nb3Sn layer to be 1.2 μm. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirmed the existence of a cubic Nb3Sn phase (A15 structure). The highest Tc observed on these samples was 17.6 K.
Key words: SRF, electrochemical coating, thin film
