Sintered non-porous cathode and sputter ion vacuum pump containing the same

A cathode comprising:

• a molded sintered bulk mixture of a powder of a first metal M1;
• a powder of a second metal M2, which is different from M1;
• and
• optionally, a powder of one or more metallic elements, which are different from M1 and M2;
• wherein
• the powders M1, M2 and one or more metallic elements different from M1 and M2 are homogeneously distributed in the sintered bulk mixture,
• the molded sintered bulk mixture is nonporous,
• a content of the one or more metallic elements is less than 3 atonic %, based on a total number of atoms Q of the sintered bulk mixture,
• wherein M1 and M2 are each independently selected from a group consisting of titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta), zirconium (Zr), niobium (Nb), hafnium (Hf), a rare earth metal, nickel (Ni), and molybdenum (Mo), and
• wherein M1 and M2 have a mean atomic mass W in a range of 80 to 160 amu according to the formula
• W=W1*q1+W2*q2
• wherein M1 has an atomic mass W1 in an amount q1 expressed as an atomic percent of the total number of atoms Q of the sintered bulk mixture and M2 has atomic mass W2 in an amount q2 expressed as an atomic percent of the total number of atoms Q.