Boron-containing coatings are actively used to improve the surface properties of mechanical parts of various devices and cutting tools. In this Paper, we demonstrate that deposition of boron-containing coatings by direct electron-beam evaporation of a boron target with a fore-vacuum plasma-cathode electron source can be used to substantially (by a factor of approximately 6–17) improve the lifetime of miniature (centimeter-sized), low-power (several watts), micronewton thrust level microcathode arc thrusters. Such improvement is a result of slowing down the interelectrode film degradation that occurs after numerous arc pulses. This improvement is observed after applying a hard (resistant to shock by plasma in a single pulse) sputter-resistant (able to maintain its protective properties for numerous pulses) boron coating on the interelectrode dielectric (alumina ceramic). This finding opens up a new way to improve the performance and lifetime of low-power vacuum-arc based propulsion devices for small satellites.

含硼涂层被积极用于改善各种设备和切削工具的机械零件的表面性能。在本文中，我们证明了通过使用前真空等离子体阴极-阴极电子源直接对硼靶进行电子束蒸发来沉积含硼涂层可以显着改善（约6-17倍）微型（厘米级），低功率（几瓦），微牛顿推力级微阴极电弧推力器的使用寿命。这样的改善是减缓了在大量电弧脉冲之后发生的电极间膜降解的结果。在电极间电介质（氧化铝陶瓷）上涂一层硬质的（抗单个脉冲等离子体冲击），抗溅射（能够保持其对多个脉冲的保护性能）硼涂层后，可以观察到这种改进。这一发现为改善用于小型卫星的低功率真空电弧推进装置的性能和寿命开辟了一条新途径。