Paper VT-MoM4
Cold Electron Source Used as Electron Source in Familiar Vacuum Measurement Devices

Monday, October 31, 2011, 9:20 am, Room 111

Both a Bayard-Alpert type ionization gauge and a partial pressure analyzer have been fabricated and tested with cold electron sources. These vacuum measurement devices showed performance for their intended use generally similar to operation with thermionically heated hot cathode electron sources. The benefits from a cold cathode electron source are several: reduced heat input to the system, lack of electron emission failure due to detrimental gases of the environment, non-susceptibility to deposits of the chemistry of the environment, non-interaction with the environment which interaction could produce gas species other than that occurring as part of the activity of the chamber, and finally fast turn-on to the electron emitting state. Details of the constructions, using an electron multiplier as the electron source, as well as the methods of controlling the electron emission current itself will be described. Test models, test conditions, and test results will be shown for a recently designed autoresonant ion trap mass spectrometer and an otherwise nearly traditional Bayard-Alpert ionization gauge.