Electron Beam Vacuum Deposition:The Clean Way

Patrick Heaney

Advisor: Dr. Joseph C. Amato

A high vacuum electron beam evaporator was assembled, tested, and used to deposit thin niobium films made for use in the study of vortex motion. E-beam deposition is a much cleaner method of producing thin films than the previously used method of argon ion sputtering. The electrical properties of the niobium films produced by electron beam evaporation were studied at cryogenic temperature to determine the diffusion coefficient of the films.