Carbon Nanotube Cathodes for Electron Gun

Author

Ulisse, G. ; Brunetti, F. ; Tamburri, E. ; Orlanducci, S. ; Cirillo, Marcello ; Terranova, M.L. ; Carlo, Aldo Di

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron. Eng., Univ. of Rome, Rome, Italy

Volume

34

Issue

5

fYear

2013

fDate

May-13

Firstpage

698

Lastpage

700

Abstract

Two carbon nanotubes cold cathodes, employable in electron guns for linear vacuum tubes (traveling-wave tubes, Klystron), are realized considering an extracting grid in two different configurations: integrated or externally mounted. The electron field emission of the two cathodes is measured to compare the two devices. In an external extracting grid, a transparency of 72% and a maximum current density of 3.2 mA/cm² are obtained, whereas in the integrated grid device, a transparency of 75% and a maximum current density of 74 mA/cm² are obtained. The high transparency achieved makes the two cathodes attractive for low power consumption vacuum tubes.

Keywords

carbon nanotubes; cathodes; current density; electron field emission; electron guns; klystrons; travelling wave tubes; C; carbon nanotubes cold cathodes; current density; electron field emission; electron gun; external extracting grid; integrated grid device; klystron; linear vacuum tubes; low power consumption vacuum tubes; traveling-wave tubes; Carbon nanotubes (CNTs); cold cathodes; microwave vacuum amplifier;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2013.2250247

Filename

6490007