Innovative Materials for Microwave Tube Applications Navy STTR FY2014.A Sol No.: Navy STTR FY2014.A Topic No.: N14A-T010 Topic Title: Innovative Materials for Microwave Tube Applications Proposal No.: N14A-010-0056 Firm: Calabazas Creek Research, Inc. 690 Port Drive San Mateo, California 94404-1010 Contact: R. Ives Phone: (650) 312-9575 Web Site: www.calcreek.com Abstract: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) offers a powerful technique for changing the surface properties of a material while maintaining the bulk properties. This allows one to create a new class of materials where one combines excellent bulk properties of lower cost materials, such as copper, with desirable surface properties of rare or expensive materials, such as tungsten, platinum, titanium, molybdenum, or silver. It also provides techniques for dramatically reducing corrosion and erosion. ALD provides unprecedented control of surface coatings on a broad range of substrates, including metals and ceramics. One can create nanometer thick coatings sufficiently thin to retain the properties of the substrate, such as electrical and thermal conductivity, dielectric properties, and cost. This program will investigate applications for ALD in microwave and millimeter wave RF sources. Promising applications have already been identified and will be further developed. The Phase I program will investigate applications related to RF and electrical breakdown, RF loss, multipactor, metallization, work function reduction, and surface finish. If funded, the Phase I option will apply the technology coat internal microwave source structures for corrosion prevention. The Phase II program will test promising coating applications and develop ALD hardware compatible with RF source production. Benefits: Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) can improve RF source performance while simultaneously reducing cost. Expensive machined parts from rare earth and refractory metals can be replaced by thin surface coatings on lower cost materials. ALD also allows one to combine excellent surface properties on one material with desirable bulk properties on a different material. This allows customization of materials for specific applications, with associated improvements in performance. Return