title: Lifetime of hydrogenated composite cathodes in a vacuum arc ion source.
abstract: The paper reports on a study of the mass-charge state of the plasma produced in a vacuum arc discharge with composite cathodes which were copper-disk coated with a hydrogenated Zr film of thicknesses 9, 22, and 35 μm. The cathodes allow the generation of multicomponent gas and metal ion beams with a hydrogen ion content from several to several tens of percent. Also investigated is the dependence of the H ion fraction in a beam on the Zr film thickness during erosion to the point of disappearance of Zr peaks in mass-charge spectra. The ability of the vacuum arc system to produce H ions is analyzed by analyzing the cathode lifetime as a function of the film thickness and pulse repetition frequency.
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Current Electronics SB RAS, Tomsk 634055, Russia.
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Savkin
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Current Electronics SB RAS, Tomsk 634055, Russia.
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Frolova
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Current Electronics SB RAS, Tomsk 634055, Russia.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Nikolaev
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Current Electronics SB RAS, Tomsk 634055, Russia.
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Oks
authors.affiliation: Institute of High Current Electronics SB RAS, Tomsk 634055, Russia.
authors.forename: G Yu
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Yushkov
authors.affiliation: Prokhorov General Physics Institute RAS, Moscow 119991, Russia.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Barengolts