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arXiv · 1811.04186

Field Electron Emission Induced Glow Discharge in Nanodiamond Vacuum Diode

Stanislav S. Baturin·Tanvi Nikhar·Sergey V. Baryshev
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Abstract

The present letter extends the prior findings on self-induced heating of solid state field emission devices. It was found that a vacuum diode (base pressure $\sim10^{-9}$ Torr), that makes use of graphite-rich polycrystalline diamond as cathode material, can switch from diode regime to resistor regime, to glow discharge plasma regime without any external perturbation, i.e. all transitions are self-induced. Combined results of in situ field emission microscopy and ex situ electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy suggested that the nanodiamond cathode of the diode heated to about 3000 K which caused self-induced material evaporation, ionization and eventually micro-plasma formation. Our results confirm that field emission, commonly called cold emission, is a very complex phenomenon that can cause severe thermal load. Thermal load and material runaway could be the major factors causing vacuum diode deterioration, i.e. progressive increase in turn-on field, decrease in field enhancement factor, and eventual failure.

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Stanislav S. Baturin, Tanvi Nikhar, Sergey V. Baryshev. 2018-11-10. Field Electron Emission Induced Glow Discharge in Nanodiamond Vacuum Diode. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463%2Fab2183

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