Development of a 30 kW plasma gun system having semipermanent lifetime

A hollow cathode which has extremely stable discharge characteristic has been developed. This is composed of the two separated lanthanum hexaboride (LaB6) of a disk type in the tube as the electron emitters. The way of design is very useful for stable discharge of hollow cathode. The hollow cathode is capable of producing 30 kW (100 V, 300 A) of power continuously. The generated plasma beam with the high temperature (3000 ∼ 5000 °C) from the hollow cathode passes through the center hole of the two intermediate electrodes. The part of the center hole is designed with the high temperature material of the tungsten and the suitable structure of the water cooling. The combinations of the hollow cathode and the two intermediate electrodes are practically useful for the ion plating plasma source.