Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Accelerator scientists have high demands on photocathodes possessing high quantum efficiency (QE) and long operational lifetime. p-GaN, as a new photocathode type, gained recently more and more interest because of its ability to form a negative electron affinity (NEA) surface. Being activated with a thin layer of cesium, p-GaN:Cs photocathodes promise higher QE and better stability than the known photocathodes.
In our study, p-GaN samples grown on sapphire or silicon were wet chemically cleaned and transferred into an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber, where they underwent a subsequent thermal cleaning. The cleaned p-GaN samples were activated with cesium to obtain p-GaN:Cs photocathodes and their performance was monitored in respect to their quality, especially their QE and storage lifetime. The surface topography and morphology were examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. We have shown that p-GaN could be efficiently reactivated with cesium for several times.
This paper compares systematically the influence of wet chemical cleaning as well as thermal cleaning at various temperatures on the QE, storage lifetime and surface morphology of p-GaN. As expected, the cleaning influences strongly the cathodes’ quality. We show that high QE and long storage lifetime are achievable at lower cleaning temperatures in our UHV chamber.