N. Mingolo et al., STABILIZATION OF A COLD-CATHODE ELECTRON-BEAM GLOW-DISCHARGE FOR SURFACE-TREATMENT, Journal of applied physics, 82(8), 1997, pp. 4118-4120
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.