Experimental observations of gated field emitter failures

Abstract
Intrinsic failure events in gated field emitters have been studied. The gate-emitter voltage, typically 140 V during operation, drops to 10-70 V at the onset of the failure. Measurements with a diagnostic probe indicate that plumes of ions and electrons are ejected into vacuum with the ion current typically 10% of the electron current. The arc voltage and the ion-to-electron current ratio are characteristic of a cathodic vacuum arc. For series resistors less than 1 k Omega , the arc is continuous, whereas for series resistors greater than 10 k Omega , the arc is intermittent.

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