Structuring of the Surface of Thin Carbon Films during Activation by Microsecond Current Pulses

The influence of current activation by the breakdown of the electric pulse on changes in the surface morphology and emission characteristics of a field emission (FE) cathode made based on carbon films obtained by deposition in a microwave gas discharge plasma is studied. The current activation of these films is carried out by applying microsecond voltage pulses until an electrical breakdown occurred. It is shown that during the activation, the morphology of the film surface in the breakdown region changes with the formation of a microsized emitting structure, which significantly improves the FE characteristics of the cathodes based on carbon films.