Fabrication of arrayed glassy carbon field emitters

Journal Article · Sat Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1997 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.589318· OSTI ID:527849

Sohda, Y; Tanenbaum, D M; Turner, S W; Craighead, H G ^[1]

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1. School of Engineering and Applied Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States)

Glassy carbon has desirable properties for electron field emission such as surface inertness, electrical conductivity, and thermal stability. In addition, a uniform thick substrate with a polished surface is easily obtainable. This enables one to apply large scale integrated circuit processing for fabricating arrayed tips. By using oxygen reactive ion etching, cusps over 3.5 {mu}m in height and 2.5 {mu}m in base diameter are fabricated with a tip radius of under 10 nm. The process is assisted by the formation of a layer of etch products which protects the newly forming tip from bending and over etching. The field emission current up to 50 {mu}A from the glassy carbon tips is obtained by applying high voltage to a mesh anode. The current which passed through the mesh anode is collected at another electrode and measured. The Fowler{endash}Nordheim plot suggests the existence of nm scale structure on the tip. This favorable result indicates glassy carbon substrate is a good substrate for field emitter arrays. {copyright} {ital 1997 American Vacuum Society.}

• OSTI ID: 527849
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena, Journal Name: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. B, Microelectronics Processing and Phenomena Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 15; ISSN JVTBD9; ISSN 0734-211X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
AMORPHOUS STATE
CARBON
CATHODES
CURRENT DENSITY
ETCHING
FABRICATION
FIELD EMISSION
FOWLER-NORDHEIM THEORY
MICROELECTRONICS
SUBSTRATES