An Investigation of Basic Noise Properties of Field Emission.
Abstract
Our physical understanding of the mechanism of operation of the TFFE cathodes have been considerably improved over the period of this contract. From the point of view of future practical applications we have demonstrated lifetimes in excess of 15,000 hours are obtained in conventional ion-pumped vacua at currents of 20 microamp/cone; although the low frequency noise is considerably higher than for thermionic emission, it is still well within the requirements of all but very low noise devices; and the basic properties of the arrays of cathodes are such that they can be successfully applied to devices where small area, high current density cathodes are required, with long life and no auxillary power. The work carried out under this contract has demonstrated that the development of the TFFEC represents an important breakthrough in making practical the use of cold field emission cathodes in actual tubes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1977
- Accession Number
- ADA037094
Entities
People
- John Kelly
Organizations
- SRI International