Displacement of Field Emitters by Vacuum Discharges

The location of field emitting micro-points, produced by nanosecond discharges in UHV, has been investigated by field emission microscopy. Weak discharges (duration < 5 ns, current < 10 A) caused a displacement of the field emission over the cathode by a distance that corresponds to average crater diameters (4–6 μm). Thus new emitters are produced at the boundary of discharge craters. More intense discharges show sometimes a far higher displacement. This can be explained by the formation of micro-points by splashes of molten metal that fly out of the discharge craters. The results support the model of the development of micro-points, as it was published in [1]. They show furthermore that the motion of arc cathode spots can be related to the displacement of microscopic field emitters.