Title :
Improved electrical insulation of vacuum gaps utilizing SiOx coatings
Author :
Allen, R.J. ; Schoenbach, K.H.
Author_Institution :
Phys. Electron. Res. Inst., Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA, USA
fDate :
June 29 1997-July 2 1997
Abstract :
Thin film coatings have been applied to metal electrodes in a vacuum insulation system to increase the breakdown voltage. Through careful cleaning and polishing of uncoated stainless steel electrodes, a breakdown field of >50MV/m was obtained with a uniform field over a 1cm/sup 2/ cathode area. When coated with 2 /spl mu/m of SiO/sub x/, the field emission current was reduced by up to at least three orders of magnitude and the breakdown field was increased to >100MV/m in every case. Recent improvements in the cleaning procedure of the metal surface have resulted in an increase of the breakdown strength to more than 140MV/m which is the largest field known to have been measured over a large area cathode.
Keywords :
coatings; electric breakdown; electric strength; electrodes; field emission; insulation testing; silicon compounds; vacuum insulation; SiO; SiO/sub x/ coatings; breakdown field; breakdown strength improvement; breakdown voltage; cathode; cleaning procedure; field emission current; metal electrodes; vacuum gaps; Cathodes; Cleaning; Coatings; Dielectrics and electrical insulation; Electric breakdown; Electrodes; Steel; Transistors; Vacuum breakdown; Vacuum systems;
Conference_Titel :
Pulsed Power Conference, 1997. Digest of Technical Papers. 1997 11th IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Baltimore, MA, USA
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-4213-5
DOI :
10.1109/PPC.1997.679389
