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Characterization Of Nanostructure, Materials, And Electron Emission Performance Of Next-Generation Thermionic Scandate Cathodes, Xiaotao Liu

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Scandate cathodes, where scandia is added to the tungsten cathode pellets, have recently received substantial and renewed research interest owing to significantly improved electron emission capabilities at lower temperatures, as compared with conventional dispenser cathodes. However, there are several persistent issues including non-uniform electron emission, lack of understanding regarding scandium’s role in the emission mechanism, and unreliable reproducibility in terms of scandate cathode fabrication. As a result, scandate cathodes have not yet been widely implemented in actual vacuum electron devices (VEDs).

The surface structure and chemical composition of multiple scandate cathodes – prepared with the powder using the liquid-solid (L-S) …