Cold cathode ionization vacuum gauge, auxiliary discharge starting electrode, and vacuum processing apparatus

Abstract

The present invention provides a cold cathode ionization vacuum gauge, an auxiliary discharge starting electrode plate, and a vacuum processing apparatus which have simple configurations and, even after long-term-use, which allow discharge to be initiated in a short-period of time and also to be performed stably after the start of the discharge. A cold cathode ionization vacuum gauge according to one embodiment of the present invention includes: an anode; a gauge head chamber (cathode) placed in such a manner as to form a discharge space together with the anode; and a protruding configured so that, in voltage-application to the anode and the cathode, an electric field should be concentrated at the protruding portion to a larger extent than an electric field at the gauge head chamber is. The protruding portion is provided inside the discharge space in such a manner that the protruding portion has a floating potential.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.