I have an idea that might be worth considering in addressing the current issues with the electrodes of FF1. If the Tungsten electrodes could be replaced by new electrodes that are manufactured in an O2 free environment then O2 contamination might be less of an issue for the tests, especially if after manufacture and during use they could be kept within an O2 free environment. Instead of a monolithic Tungsten Anode and Cathode suppose the semiconductor industry was leveraged to create these objects for LPPX. Intel, Global Foundries, TSMC, and others have the ability to use Ion Beam Deposition, Chemical Vapor Deposition, or Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition to apply thin films of Tungsten/Boron to semiconductor wafers, might this not be cheaper than a monolithic device and provide greater control over how the device is manufactured? Couldn’t this method be used to apply enough layers to a semiconductor wafer, si or ge or other appropriate substrate, to make a tungsten insert. This would make it possible to iterate through many possible configurations which could yield positive results. For example other materials could probably also be tested such as carbon nano-tubes or single atom carbon sheets or Boron each covering the semiconductor wafer with many layers. They may even be able to optimize the design for you as when last I worked at Intel they had the ability to simulate the effect of ionizing radiation on semiconductor wafers, that may only have been a Matlab program, which could potentially be applied to simulate the effect of the x-rays on the materials used to make the electrodes. It might even be possible to convince these design houses to donate sets of electrodes to the cause of making the world a better place. Maybe pitch an X-Prize idea to them, 20 Million dollars in seed funding for those who can make fusion happen in the next 5 years.
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