Note on the effect of Temperature on the Auto-electronic Discharge

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Abstract
R. A. Millikan and C. F. Eyring have shown that the auto-electronic emission is independent of the temperature of the cathode up to 1000° K. At higher temperatures a thermionic emission takes place and this masks the auto-emission. W. S. Pforte and the author have recently shown that the thermionic emission is increased by the field in accordance with a relation derived by Schottky, so that when both thermionic and auto-electronic emissions are present it is only necessary to subtract the thermionic current, as given by the Schottky relation, from the total measured current to obtain the value of the auto-emission at the temperature considered. In this way the thermionic and auto-emissions can be separated.