SUMMARY ON TITANIUM NITRIDE COATING OF SNS RING VACUUM CHAMBERS

The inner surfaces of the 248 m Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) accumulator ring vacuum chambers are coated with ∼100nm of titanium nitride (TiN) to reduce the secondary electron yield (SEY) of the chamber walls. There are approximately 135 chambers and kicker modules, some up to 5m in length and 36cm in diameter, coated with TiN. The coating is deposited by means of reactive DC magnetron sputtering -using a - cylindrical cathode with internal permanent magnets. This cathode configuration generates a deposition-rate sufficient to meet the required production schedule and produces stoichiometric films with good adhesion, low SEY and acceptable outgassing. Moreover, the cathode magnet configuration allows for simple changes in length and has been adapted to coat the wide variety of chambers and components contained within the arcs, injection, extraction, collimation and RF straight sections. Chamber types and quantities as well as the cathode configurations are presented herein. The unique coating requirements of the injection kicker ceramic chambers and the extraction kicker ferrite surface will be emphasized. A brief summary of the salient coating properties is given including the interdependence of SEY as a function of surface roughness and its effect on outgassing