Erosion rates of metal-vapor vacuum-arc cathode materials have been measured for a number of different cathode elements. The measured rates are compared with the rates predicted by a simple estimate based on the known ion generation rates. The agreement is good for the more refractory metals. For the low boiling-point metals there is evidence for an additional mass loss, as, for example, might be associated with an intense macroparticle generation
Published in:
Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on
(Volume:18
,
Issue:
1
)
Date of Publication: Feb 1990