Silicon field emission electron beam sources
- MCNC Electronic Technologies Div., Research Triangle Park, NC (United States)
- Naval Research Lab., Washington, DC (United States); and others
Field emission electron beam sources fabricated using silicon as the base material offer several advantages over field emission sources made from other materials. These advantages include: the ability to construct emitter tips on tall (several micron) columns, the use of fabrication techniques well-known in the semiconductor industry, the option of forming the tips by either isotropic or anisotropic etching, and the ability to increase the tip radius uniformity of a large number of tips using silicon oxidation. Because of these advantages, large numbers of arrays can be produced in a single fabrication run. Placing the emitter tips on tall columns increases the separation between the cathode and gate electrode. This lowers the parallel-plate capacitance of the array, and increased the voltage breakdown limit of the insulating layer between the electrodes is increased. Lowering the capacitance of the array increases its input impedance, which reduces the required drive power for applications requiring rapid changes in the gate voltage. Increasing the voltage breakdown limit of the insulating layer broadens the range over which the device can operate, and improves device yield. This presentation describes several fabrication methods developed at MCNC for silicon column emitters. Micrographs of the completed structures and arrays are included. In addition, equipment and methods for electrical characterization of these arrays are described, and the latest test results are shown.
- OSTI ID:
- 178209
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-950612-; ISBN 0-7803-2669-5; TRN: IM9607%%239
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 22. international conference on plasma science, Madison, WI (United States), 5-8 Jun 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of IEEE conference record -- abstracts: 1995 IEEE international conference on plasma science; PB: 312 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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