  X-band accelerator structures meeting the Next Linear Collider (NLC) design
requirements have been found to suffer vacuum surface damage caused by radio
frequency (RF) breakdown, when processed to high electric-field gradients.
Improved understanding of these breakdown events is desirable for the
development of structure designs, fabrication procedures, and processing
techniques that minimize structure damage. RF reflected wave analysis and
acoustic sensor pickup have provided breakdowns localization in RF structures.
Particle contaminations found following clean autopsy of four RF-processed
travelling wave structures, have been catalogued and analyzed. Their influence
on RF breakdown, as well as that of several other material-based properties,
will be discussed.
