C. Spindt, C. E. Holland and P. R. Schwoebel, “11.1: A reliable improved Spindt cathode design for high currents,” 2010 IEEE International Vacuum Electronics Conference (IVEC), 2010, pp. 201-202, doi: 10.1109/IVELEC.2010.5503534.
Abstract
Recent work with Spindt cathodes has shown that past unreliable behavior has not been due to poor tip uniformity and the failure of over-achieving tips as has been widely believed. Rather the failures have been due to flashover along oxide walls in the cathode cavities. A new cavity architecture has solved the problem, and enabled greatly improved performance.
Keywords: Cathodes, Electron emission, Flashover, Testing, Silicon, Vacuum breakdown, Reliability engineering, Design engineering, Laboratories, Field emitter arrays