U.S. Philips Corporation

Jan Zwier

Johannes H Vasterink

Johannes M Van Esdonk

Peter J Janssen

Hubert C Raets

Martinus H Van Den Broek

Theo Husgen

Gerd Schiefer

Harm Lotterman

Willem F Mellink

An inlet opening in an evacuatable vacuum system is substantially enlarged and closed off by a porous plate so that the ingress of dust is avoided and a very uniform inflow of gas is realized. A similar plate can be used for closing off a gas outlet opening of the vacuum chamber.

Vacuum system

The stability of semiconductor cathodes is improved by reducing the effective emitting surface area. This is effected by producing emission patterns by means of separate emission regions, whose overall surface area is much smaller than that of the actual emission patter. Due to the higher emission current and adjustment current, adsorbed particles, which adversely affect the stability of the emission, are rapidly drained.

Semiconductor cathode with increased stability

The invention relates to an electric arrangement for operating a an electric discharge lamp (13) which is connected in series with a coil (14) and a switch (15) to a pulsatory direct voltage source. The combination of the lamp and the coil is shunted by a rectifier. The lamp is shunted by a capacitor (18) and the switch is periodically rendered conductive at an instant when the instantaneous voltage of the pulsatory direct voltage source is between 0.5 and 0.8 times the then required re-ignition voltage of the lamp. The voltage build up across the capacitor (18) after the switch has become conducting causes the lamp to reignite. The luminous efficacy of the lamp is comparatively high.

Electric circuit with transient voltage doubling for improved operation

Positive ions which are generated in a vacuum tube (1) and can adversely affect the electron emission of a cathode (3) are collected for the major part by a screen grid or diaphragm (5), which forms part of a positive electron lens (4,5). In the case of a semiconductor cathode having a circular emission region (13) having a diameter larger than that of the opening in the screen grid (5), this emission region (13) is struck only by positive ions generated in a small region between the cathode (3) and a first grid (4). These ions moreover have a comparatively low energy so that the emission behavior is to only a limited extent adversely affected by sputtering by positive ions which would remove cathode material (33), such as cesium.

Cathode-ray tube having an ion trap

In order to improve the stability of a cold cathode (5) of the reverse biased junction type, a vacuum space (2) is coupled with a reservoir (10), within which a source (21) of material reducing the work function, for example caesium, is present. By influencing the vapor pressure and the temperature in component parts (13, 16) of the reservoir (10) and in the source (21), loss of caesium due to adsorption or other phenomena occurring at the emitting surface (8) of the cathode (5) can be compensated for by an incident flow of caesium (25).

Electron emission device provided with a reservoir containing material

The efficiency of a semiconductor cathode can be increased by bombarding the electron-emitting regions (8) with an electron beam (8), which frees the surface from adhered oxygen particles. The electron beam preferably originates from a second semiconductor cathode (42), which has an opening (42) for passing the electron beam (20) of the first semiconductor cathode (20). Alternatively, both semiconductor cathodes can be realized in one semiconductor body.

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Jan Zwier