Abstract

A model of the electric field enhanced thermal (thermo-field) emission of electrons from the metal cathode substrate into a thin insulating film on its surface is developed. A system of equations for the cathode surface temperature in the arc discharge and the electric field strength in the film, providing the required discharge current density, is formulated. It is shown that existence of the insulating film can result in a considerable reduction of the cathode temperature in the discharge due to lower potential barrier height at the metal-insulator boundary than at the metal-discharge boundary in case of the cathode without the film. It is found that due to an enhancement of the thermal emission of electrons into the film by the electric field generated in it, an additional decrease in the cathode temperature by about 100 K takes place.

中文翻译：

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电弧气体放电中电场增强的热电子发射对带有绝缘薄膜的阴极温度的影响

摘要

建立了电场增强电子从金属阴极基板进入其表面上的绝缘薄膜的模型。公式化了一个方程式系统，用于电弧放电中的阴极表面温度和薄膜中的电场强度，提供了所需的放电电流密度。可以看出，绝缘膜的存在可导致放电中阴极温度的显着降低，这是由于在金属-绝缘体边界处的势垒高度低于在没有膜的阴极的情况下在金属-放电边界处的势垒高度。可以发现，由于通过薄膜中产生的电场增强了电子向薄膜中的热发射，因此使阴极温度进一步降低了约100K。