Self-aligned silicon field emission cathode arrays formed by selective, lateral thermal oxidation of silicon
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
This article reports on the fabrication of single crystal silicon, field emission tip arrays. The tips are formed by exposing a {open_quotes}capped{close_quotes} silicon pedestal to a lateral high temperature thermal oxidation. Tips formed using this process have uniform height and profile, and have small radii of curvature-typically less than 20 nm. We have fabricated tip arrays with up to 2500 elements and with the tip-to-tip spacing ranging from 1.0 to 5.0 {mu}m. The thermal SiO{sub 2} has a nominal thickness of 600 nm and serves as insulation between the extraction grid and the substrate. The extraction grid is a self-aligned, sputter deposited Ti{sub 0.1}W{sub 0.9} film. Extraction grid apertures range from 900 nm to 1.7 {mu}m. The process sequence is flexible allowing the fabrication of tips with different heights. The vertical position of the tip apex with respect to the extraction grid aperture, therefore, is a controllable parameter. The preliminary emission measurements are presented here for arrays containing 400 elements. All testing is done in ultrahigh vacuum (typically less than 5.0 X 10{sup -10} Torr). The areas of the arrays fabricated range from 40 {mu}m X 40 {mu}m to 100 {mu}m X 100 {mu}m. The tip heights range from 1.0 to 1.4 {mu}m above the substrate silicon. The maximum current produced from a 400 element array is only 0.45 {mu}A at 140 V{sub dc}. The low array current indicates that only a small number of tips are active at a given voltage. 10 refs., 5 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 249841
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9207188-; ISSN 0734-211X; TRN: 96:002958-0026
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena, Vol. 11, Issue 2; Conference: 5. international vacuum microelectronics conference, Vienna (Austria), 13-17 Jul 1992; Other Information: PBD: Mar-Apr 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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