Metallic films for triggering vacuum-arc plasma sources

Long-Life Pulsed Vacuum-Arc Plasma Source

“…For stable operation of the ignition system in the proposed device, a balance is required between the amount of cathode material deposited on the surface of the dielectric spigot of each section of the igniting electrode during the passage of pulsed vacuum-arc discharges in the device, and the amount of material consumed from the surface of this spigot during the formation of the starting discharge between consecutive activations of the corresponding igniting electrode section. The film formation rate for chromium and titanium cathodes under conditions similar to ours was studied in [24]. If compared with the case of a solid anode and, accordingly, only one igniting electrode section, and conditions are created for the equality of the amount of material that reaches the dielectric spigot and is carried away from it during its activation, then in our case, for four sections of the anode and the igniting electrode, to achieve the same conditions under other equal circumstances, it is necessary either to reduce the current magnitude in the vacuum-arc pulse during its passage through each individual section, or to reduce its duration by four times.…”