Field emission and high voltage cleaning of particulate contaminants on extended metallic surfaces

The vacuum insulation properties of extended metallic surfaces depends strongly on their cleanliness. The usual technique to reduce electronic field emission from such surfaces consists in exposing them to very high electric fields during limited periods of time. This kind of processing also reduces the occurrence of vacuum breakdown. The processing of the surface is generally believed to be due to a thermomechanical destruction of the emitting sites, initiated by the emission itself. Comparison of the electric forces vs adherence forces which act on dust particles lying on the surface shows that the processing could also be due simply to the mechanical removal of the dust particles, with a subsequent reduction of field emission from the contaminated surface. (author)