Abstract : This paper is a review of research effected on negative ion plasma-surface sources in the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Novosibirsk. It contains the description of the performances of the planatron, a source which produced in 1972 in pure hydrogen a density of H- ion current of 0.75 A/cm2. The results of recent studies of this source, in the 1987 version, designated as semi-planatron, are also presented. The experiments effected by adding cesium to the hydrogen discharge lead to a theoretical model of the surface-plasma sources with low work function cathode. The optimization of the negative ion production led to the increase of the beam intensity to 11 A.
