Method of Improving Cathode Surface

We suggest a method of controlled improvement of cathode surface quality by high-voltage pulses in a vacuum. This method includes surface inspection, pulse amplitude calculation, and pulse action with predetermined amplitude upon a vacuum gap cathode. The cathode surface is controlled by the electric field intensity amplification factor beta at the cathode microinhomogeneities. The pulse amplitude is calculated from specific pulse duration and the beta-factor. The amplitude is calculated so that the pulse duration is equal to the breakdown delay time. By applying a series of pulses which have the same duration as the breakdown delay time, the cathode surface can be improved to have smaller beta-factor values with a minimum of high voltage pulses required to achieve maximum surface quality. This method is experimentally verified for both all-metal and spray-coated film electrodes of electronic devices. It is shown that a significant decrease of beta-factor results from the application of 3 - 5 high voltage pulses using this method.