Development of an oxidized porous silicon vacuum microtriode
- Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
In order to realize a high-power microwave amplifier design known as a gigatron, a gated field emission array must be developed that can deliver a high-intensity electron beam at gigahertz frequencies. No existing field emission device meets the requirements for a gigatron cathode. In the present work, a porous silicon-based approach is evaluated. The use of porous silicon reduces the size of a single emitter to the nanometer scale, and a true two-dimensional array geometry can be approached. A wide number of applications for such a device exist in various disciplines. Oxidized porous silicon vacuum diodes were first developed in 1990. No systematic study had been done to characterize the performance of these devices as a function of the process parameters. The author has done the first such study, fabricating diodes from p<100>, p<111>, and n<100> silicon substrates. Anodization current densities from 11 mA/cm2 to 151 mA/cm2 were used, and Fowler-Nordheim behavior was observed in over 80% of the samples. In order to effectively adapt this technology to mainstream vacuum microelectronic applications, a means of creating a gated triodic structure must be found. No previous attempts had successfully yielded such a device. The author has succeeded in utilizing a novel metallization method to fabricate the first operational oxidized porous silicon vacuum microtriodes, and results are encouraging.
- Research Organization:
- Texas A and M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Research Foundation
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG02-91ER40613
- OSTI ID:
- 510542
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/40613-T4; ON: DE97008031; TRN: 97:004783
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: TH: Thesis (Ph.D.); PBD: May 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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