On the influence of electron-beam metal evaporation on parameters of beam plasma in medium vacuum.

We present the results of an investigation of the gas-metal plasma formed by electron-beam evaporation with simultaneous ionization of a copper target in a rare gas (helium) atmosphere at a pressure of 2–12 Pa. It has been found that, in addition to the expected growth of the beam-plasma density, there is a non-monotonic change (growth followed by a decrease) in the electron temperature with the increasing evaporation rate. The indicated temperature behavior of beam-plasma electrons can be explained by a numerical balance model that describes the generation of the beam-plasma from the gas and metal components having different ionization potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]