XXVI Int. Symp.

on Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum - Mumbai, India – 2014

XXVI Int. Symp. on Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum - Mumbai, India – 2014

High voltage breakdown studies in electron gun

and its damage control
Namita Maiti*, K. B. Thakur, D. S. Patil and A. K. Das

Laser & Plasma Technology Division,

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai – 400 085, INDIA

Abstract- Vacuum breakdown is a very common problem
during the operation of any electron gun. Arcing occurs
due to high voltage break down of cathode – anode gap.
This not only spoils the job, it also causes lot of damage to
the electronic component of the system and damage to the
emitter.
In this work, a detailed study of the cause of the high
voltage breakdown in the gun in the electron beam
evaporation system, analysis of the electrical parameters of
arc discharge inside the electron gun due to high voltage
break down and suitable solution to the arc discharge
problem has been presented. Power supplies need to be
protected against surges arising out of high voltage
breakdown. Ferrite beads have been used to suppress the
high frequency content of the breakdown signal. High
frequency content of the signal in the MHz range can be
attenuated to lower range of KHz by use of ferrite bead
thereby protecting against high frequency surges. On the
other hand during breakdown there is a sudden increase
in the current which needs to be limited without
interruption in the process. Possible use of superconductor
as fault current limiter has been analyzed in this work.
 very small amount of heat. The type of ferrite material
 
The process associated with electron beam evaporation
gets disrupted due to vacuum breakdown thereby
resulting in damage of the desired job, electronic
circuits and the emitter Therefore it is necessary to
understand the actual cause of high voltage breakdown
in the electron gun and then find the suitable solution to
the arc discharge problem. The breakdown can occur
due to various reasons such as, 1) material chosen for
the gun electrodes, 2) interelectrode distance, 3)
outgassing of the material at high temperature, 4)
degassing from molten metal. Breakdown occurs when
the pressure inside the vacuum chamber increases. More
specifically, as the material in the crucible evaporates,
positive metal vapor ions may be generated, which may
go back to the emitter along the similar path taken by
the electron beam. All these factors sometimes make it
difficult to ascertain the reliable high voltage
performance of the electron gun. In [1], in the gun
region an improved electrostatic field have been
reported to reduce the undesired arcing. For a transverse
e-gun, grounded metallic shield as reported in [2] has
been used to prevent establishing a discharge. High
speed detection system consisting of tetrode electronic
tube in series with the electron gun and switching off
the power supply to limit the flashover has been
reported in [3]. To attenuate the breakdown current near
the gun so that it does not propagate to the power source
to cause any detrimental effect, ferrite beads have been
used to suppress the high frequency content of the
breakdown signal in [4]. In this work, use of ferrite bead
has been discussed.
II. TRANSIENT SUPPRESSION USING FERRITE BEAD
A typical high voltage breakdown signal from an
electron beam evaporation system is shown in the
Figure1. It shows that the high frequency content of the
signal lies in the range of 4-14 Mhz. The ferrite beads
have been used to suppress the high frequency content
through dissipation and also to reduce the amplitude of
the breakdown signal. The impedance properties of the
ferrite choke allow it to act with a high resistance to
high frequency signals and low resistance to lower
frequency signals. This way, the high frequency noise is
damped out and the absorbed energy is converted to a
used in the bead will determine the range of frequency
suppression, and the physical dimensions and shape of
the ferrite bead determine the amount of suppression
possible.
Fig. 1 shows a power spectrum of a typical
breakdown signal.
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Fig. 1. Power spectrum of a breakdown signal.

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IV EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
III SIMULATION RESULTS
To study the effect of ferrite beads to high voltage
For actual simulation purpose commercially available breakdown signal, ten numbers of ferrite beads have
code was used. In this code first analysis in magnetic been used (Fig. 4). Fig.5 shows the effect of ferrite on
nodal is opted. To simulate a problem following steps breakdown signal.
are involved.
1. Material of different parts of the problem
2. Equations used for different boundary
condition
3. Assignment of boundary condition
4. Loading with actual excitation

Material properties to different zones can be assisgned

in material model mode of preprocessor. Excitation
is current density in harmonic condition which is the 
load in our condition. After solving the problem, results
are read in preprocessor. All data as flux density plot,
2D flux lines and Joule heat generated can be seen.
10 ferrite beads have been used for the simulation.
Magnetic force vector plot is shown in the figure 2.

Fig. 4 Schematic of the set up


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 Fig.2 A sample breakdown signal using aluminum evaporant with
ferrite (red) and without ferrite (blue)

Fig. 2 Magnetic force vector

The figure shows that the magnetic field is not saturated

Fig. 5 A sample breakdown signal using aluminum
which may cause unnecessary heating. The effect of
evaporant with ferrite (red) and without ferrite (blue)
ferrite core has been seen in the figure 3.

 V FAULT CURRENT LIMITER

 If one uses circuit breaker they open too slowly in
many cases , they shut off the current completely and
 they require time to reset .
 So a fault current limiters (FCL) on the other hand ,
rapidly reduce (not stop) the current which may permit
 continual operation if the fault is momentary
 A superconductor can serve as a fault current limiter
(Fig. 3) by simply being inserted into the electrical line .
 In the superconducting state with zero resistance , the
super conductor has no effect on the performance of the
line . However , if the current rises above the
superconducting critical current , then a resistance
Fig. 3 Effect on a decaying signal suddenly appears in the line which, if large enough ,

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limits the current .
In High temperature superconductor (HTS) material ,
the transition from essentially zero to large resistance
due to sudden increase of current is the ideal mechanism
for current limitation .

Fig. 6 Fault current limiter
A fault current limiter takes advantage of the large
differential in resistance between the superconducting
and normal state of the HTS material ,placed in series in
a circuit ,the HTS material is superconducting in normal
operation .A large current surge will quickly drive the
HTS material into its high resistance state , there by
limiting the current surge to values not much greater
then the critical current of the HTS material .
In a resistive FCL, the current passes through the
superconductor and when a high fault current begins,
the superconductor quenches: it becomes a normal
conductor and the resistance rises sharply and quickly.
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This extra resistance in the system reduces the fault
current from what it would otherwise be (the
prospective fault current). This phenomenon can be
utilized to limit current in gun breakdown.
ACKNOLEDGMENT
The authors wish to express gratitude to Dr. L. M.
Gantayet, Group Director, Beam Technology
Development Group, BARC for his constant support
REFERENCES
[1] Luis A. Zuniga, Michael E. LaFrance, Larry F. Willitzer,
Christopher S. Johnson, “Arc free electron gun”, U. S. Patent
No. 6,064,686, (2000).
[2] R. J. Hill, “Electron beam gun with grounded shield to
prevent arc down and gas bleed to protect the filament”, U.S.
Patent No. 6476340, (2000).
[3] G. Sayegh, “Control of discharge initiation in high-intensity
electron-beam generators for metal processing”, I.E.E.E.
Trans. on Electrical Insulation, 24, 959-962, (1989).
[4] Namita Maiti, U. D. Barve, Shakti Kumar Mishra, M. S.
Bhatia, and A. K. Das “Attenuation of electron gun
generated surges in an electron beam evaporation system
using ferrite beads”, Vacuum, 86 (2012), pp 1810 - 1814
E-mail of the author(s): nmaiti@barc.gov.in