Extension of the general thermal field equation for nanosized emitters

Journal Article · Thu Jan 28 04:00:00 EST 2016 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4940721· OSTI ID:22494957

Xanthakis, J. P. ^[1]

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1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Zografou Campus, Athens 15700 (Greece)

During the previous decade, Jensen et al. developed a general analytical model that successfully describes electron emission from metals both in the field and thermionic regimes, as well as in the transition region. In that development, the standard image corrected triangular potential barrier was used. This barrier model is valid only for planar surfaces and therefore cannot be used in general for modern nanometric emitters. In a recent publication, the authors showed that the standard Fowler-Nordheim theory can be generalized for highly curved emitters if a quadratic term is included to the potential model. In this paper, we extend this generalization for high temperatures and include both the thermal and intermediate regimes. This is achieved by applying the general method developed by Jensen to the quadratic barrier model of our previous publication. We obtain results that are in good agreement with fully numerical calculations for radii R > 4 nm, while our calculated current density differs by a factor up to 27 from the one predicted by the Jensen's standard General-Thermal-Field (GTF) equation. Our extended GTF equation has application to modern sharp electron sources, beam simulation models, and vacuum breakdown theory.

• OSTI ID: 22494957
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 119; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CURRENT DENSITY
ELECTRON EMISSION
ELECTRON SOURCES
FIELD EQUATIONS
FOWLER-NORDHEIM THEORY
METALS
NANOSTRUCTURES