Thin films of Zr and Ti-Zr as potential candidates for Non-Evaporable Getters (NEG) to produce extreme high vacuum

Thin films of Zr and Ti-Zr were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering technique and characterized to study their efficacy as a non-evaporable getter material. The getter activation mechanism was investigated using XPS technique. It was found that the lowest activation temperature (about 300 deg C for a 2h heating) was achieved with Ti-Zr films. The in-situ XPS measurements of the activated getter films show the disappearance of the superficial oxide layer through the variation in the oxygen stoichiometry during thermal activation. Results of these studies show that the deposited films of Ti-Zr could be used as NEG to produce extreme high vacuum. (author)