Cathodic arc grown niobium films for RF superconducting cavity applications

Experimental results on the characterization of the linear and non-linear microwave properties of niobium film produced by UHV cathodic arc deposition are presented. Surface impedance Zs as a function of RF field and intermodulation distortion (IMD) measurement have been carried out by using a dielectrically loaded resonant cavity operating at 7 GHz. The experimental data show that these samples have a lower level of intrinsic non-linearities at low temperature and low circulating power in comparison with Nb samples grown by sputtering. These results make UHV cathodic arc deposition a promising technique for the improvement of RF superconducting cavities for particle accelerators.