Scandia doped tungsten matrix dispenser cathodes were manufactured using scandia doped tungsten powder prepared by mechanical mixing, liquid-solid doping and a spray drying method. It is found the macrostructure of the cathode depended on the powder preparation method. The cathode prepared using the powder prepared by spray drying method had a homogenous and porous matrix characterized with grains with a diameter of less than 1 pm and with many nanoparticles distributing uniformly around these grains. The cathode with submicron structure and uniform distribution of scandia exhibited good emission uniformity. The emission uniformity Delta J/J of the cathode prepared by spray drying method was 0.17, about 6 times lower than that of the cathode prepared by mechanical mixing method. The calculation results showed that the nanoparticles led to electric field enhancement. A Ba-Sc-O multilayer on the cathode surface and nanoparticles distributing mainly on W grains contributed to the emission property of the cathode. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.