A simple, high-yield, apparatus for NEG coating of vacuum beamline elements

Non-Evaporable Getter (NEG) materials are extremely useful in vacuum systems for achieving Ultra High Vacuum. Recently, these materials have been used to coat the inner surfaces of vacuum components, acting as an internal, passive, vacuum pump. We have constructed a low cost apparatus, which allows coating of very small diameter vacuum tubes, used as differential pumping stages. Despite the relative ease of construction, we are routinely able to achieve high coating yields. We further describe an improvement to our system, which is able to achieve the same yield, at an even lower complexity by using an easily manufactured permanent magnet arrangement. The designs described are extendible to virtually any combination of length and diameter of the components to be coated.