STABILIZATION OF A COLD-CATHODE ELECTRON-BEAM GLOW-DISCHARGE FOR SURFACE-TREATMENT

We have demonstrated that the reproducibility of electron beam pulses generated by a high power, cold cathode glow discharge is greatly impr oved by adding a small continuous keep-alive discharge current. A curr ent of the order of 200 mu A was found to limit the shot to shot curre nt variation to within 1.5%. This stabilization in turn reduces by an order of magnitude the fluctuations of the energy density deposited on the target, demonstrating a reliable energy source for surface treatm ent. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.