We have successfully developed a method for fabricating scandate-based thermionic emitters in thin film form. The primary goal of our effort is to develop thin film emitters that exhibit low work function, high intrinsic electron emissivity, minimum thermal activation properties and that can be readily incorporated into a microgap converter. Our approach has been to incorporate BaSrO into a Sc 2 O 3 matrix using rf sputtering to produce thin films. Diode testing has shown the resulting films to be electron emissive at temperatures as low as 900 K with current densities of 0.1 mA⋅cm−2 at 1100 K and saturation voltages. We calculate an approximate maximum work function of 1.8 eV and an apparent emission constant (Richardson’s constant, A * ) of 36 mA⋅cm−2⋅K−2. Film compositional and structural analysis shows that a significant surface and subsurface alkaline earth hydroxide phase can form and probably explains the limited utilization and stability of Ba and its surface complexes. The flexibility inherent in sputter deposition suggests alternate strategies for eliminating undesirable phases and optimizing thin film emitter properties.


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    Title :

    Characterization of sputter deposited thin film scandate cathodes for miniaturized thermionic converter applications


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    Space technology and applications international forum -1999 ; 1999 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 458 , 1 ; 1438-1443


    Publication date :

    1999-01-22


    Size :

    6 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




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