Cold Cathodes

Stellarray’s DAXS, MAXS and RIXS x-ray sources use field emission cold cathodes that emit current in a very compact format without the need for heating. Stellarray and parent company Stellar Micro Devices have made cold cathodes using different allotropes of carbon, including diamond and carbon nanotubes, various metals, and semiconductors including III-V compounds, for applications such as vacuum transistors, space instruments, terahertz sources, UV sources and our own x-ray sources.

The preferred cold cathodes use films of carbon and metal terminating in an edge or lateral tip. The thinness of the edge or sharpness of the tip enhances the field, as does the resulting vacuum “triple point”. Formats include straight edges, single lateral tips, lateral tip arrays and a unique “disk-pusher cathode”.