RF accelerating structures of the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) require a material capable of sustaining high electric field with a low breakdown rate and low induced damage. Because of the similarity of many aspects of DC and RF breakdown, a DC breakdown study is underway at CERN in order to test candidate materials and surface preparations, and have a better understanding of the breakdown mechanism under ultra-high vacuum in a simple setup. Conditioning speeds and breakdown fields of several metals and alloys have been measured. The average breakdown field after conditioning ranges from 100 MV/m for Al to 850 MV/m for stainless steel, and is around 170 MV/m for Cu which is the present base-line material for CLIC structures. The results indicate clearly that the breakdown field is limited by the cathode. The presence of a thin cuprous oxide film at the surface of copper electrodes significantly increases the breakdown field. On the other hand, the conditioning speed of Mo is improved by removing oxides at the surface with a vacuum heat treatment, typically at 875°C for 2 hours. Surface finishing treatments of Cu samples only affects the very first breakdowns. More generally, surface treatments have an effect on the conditioning process itself, but not on the average breakdown field reached after the conditioning phase. In analogy to RF, the breakdown probability has been measured in DC with Cu and Mo electrodes. The DC data show similar behaviour as RF as a function of the applied electric field.
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