Surface resistivity tailoring of ceramic accelerator components

Metal plasma deposition and metal ion implantation techniques have been developed that could provide a good tool for the surface modification of insulating materials for accelerator applications such as ceramics and that could provide a method for tailoring the surface resistivity over a range of many orders of magnitude. The methods make use of the metal plasma that is produced by the cathodic arc discharge; the plasma itself can be deposited onto the surface at an energy of the order of 100 eV so as to form an adherent thin film, or an energetic metal ion beam can be formed for deep implantation of the metal species below the surface so as to incorporate a controllable amount of metal into the ceramic.<
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