Electron Flux at the Surface of Titanium Tritide Films

Certain metal tritides have been investigated as reliable and quasi-constant sources of electrons for a number of practical purposes with particular attention to the dependence of the electron emission rate as a function of temperature. The objective of this article is to carry out simple calculations that illustrate the relative ranking of a number of binary metal tritides with respect to the maximum achievable electron flux; examine semi-empirically the energy spectrum of the electrons emanating from the surface of a titanium tritide film; and present experimental measurements of the electron emission rate from the surface of titanium tritide films. The results suggest that beryllium tritide would yield the greatest electron emission rate of all the metal tritides; the emitted flux has a significant component of secondary electrons; and, the total electron emission rate is quite sensitive to the condition of the emitting surface.