抄録
Oxygen-free copper electrodes stored in the atmosphere were used as test samples. Changes of field emission characteristics with 500 repetitive breakdowns and He ion beam sputtering were investigated in conjunction with analyses of electrode surface conditions by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). Experiments revealed that field emission currents were detected from electrodes used as the anode after 500 breakdowns, while for electrodes that were heavily contaminated and the cathode after 500 breakdowns field emission currents were not detected. Although anode and cathode surfaces were cleaned by 500 breakdowns, the cathode surfaces were more completely cleaned than the anode surfaces during repetitive 500 breakdowns. Residual carbon may play a role to dominate field emission characteristics and breakdown characteristics.
