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To mitigate multipacting and device degradation in vacuum radio-frequency systems, this work engineers nanometric MgZnO multi-element heterostructures synthesized via atomic layer deposition (ALD). By systematically evaluating the structural, chemical, and electrical properties across diverse film configurations, the authors decouple total electron emission yield (TEEY) from bulk electrical conductivity. The resulting multilayers unlock parameter regimes inaccessible to conventional single-phase materials, including states that pair suppressed secondary emission with tailored conductivity to preserve device integrity under intense RF fields.
Single-phase coatings force an unavoidable compromise between secondary electron yield and electrical conductivity, but nanometric MgZnO multilayers break this trade-off to suppress multipacting breakdown in high-power vacuum electronics.
Secondary electron emission (SEE), arising from the interaction of energetic electrons with material surfaces, can induce deleterious effects in vacuum radio-frequency (RF) systems, notably multipacting, thereby degrading performance and threatening device integrity. Despite extensive efforts, effective and widely adopted mitigation strategies remain limited. Here, we report an approach to simultaneously tailor SEE and electrical conductivity using nanometric multi-element multilayers deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The design and fabrication of these heterostructures are presented, and a range of films is systematically characterized to establish correlations between emission properties, electrical conductivity, chemical and structural features. We demonstrate that such heterostructures enable combinations of total electron emission yield (TEEY) and conductivity unattainable in single-phase materials, including regimes combining high TEEY with relatively high conductivity and low TEEY with low conductivities. These results open new avenues for the rational design of functional surfaces for vacuum electronic applications.