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"Bulk niobium (Nb) has been the material of choice for superconducting RF (SRF) cavities but for further improvement in cavity RF performance, one may have to turn to films of Nb and to other superconducting materials deposited on copper as thermal and mechanical support. Other materials known as A15, such as Nb₃Sn or V₃Si and B1 such as NbTiN and NbN are much easier to synthesise in thin films rather than being made as bulk cavity. The potential benefits of using materials other than Nb would be a higher Tc, a potentially higher critical held Hc, leading to potentially significant cryogenics cost reduction if the cavity operation temperature is 4.2 K or higher. We report on optimising deposition parameters and effect of substrate treatment prior to deposition for successful synthesising of Nb and the alternative superconducting thin film with high superconducting properties (Tc and Hsh) on flat substrates and QPR samples in single layer. The DC and RF SC properties have been tested using PPMS and QPR measurements. This work is part of the H2020 ARIES collaboration. We further report on preparation of RF cavities employing these alternative material for future cavity production.", Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on RF Superconductivity, SRF2021, East Lansing, MI, USA

An international collaboration of research teams from CEA (France), CERN (Switzerland), INFN/LNL (Italy), HZB and USI (Germany), IEE (Slovakia), RTU (Latvia) and STFC/DL (UK), are working together on better understanding of how to improve the properties of superconducting thin films (ScTF) for RF cavities. The collaboration has been formed as WP15 in the H2020 ARIES project funded by EC. The systematic study of ScTF covers: Cu substrate polishing with different techniques (EP, SUBU, EP+SUBU, tumbling, laser), Nb, NbN, Nb₃Sn and SIS film deposition and characterisation, Laser post deposition treatments, DC magnetisation characterisation, application of all obtained knowledge on polishing, deposition and characterisation, Laser post deposition treatments, DC magnetisation characterisation, application to the QPR samples for testing the films at RF conditions. The preparation, deposition and characterisation of each sample involves 3-5 partners enhancing the capability of each other and resulting in a more complete analysis of each film. The talk will give an overview of the collaborative research and will be an introduction to the detailed talks given by the team members., Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on RF Superconductivity, SRF2021, East Lansing, MI, USA