A progress report on the Livermore miniature vacuum tube project
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
- California Univ., Davis, CA (USA). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Using the sacrificial layer process, we are designing and building micron-sized vacuum diodes and triodes. The devices use silicon field emitters etched into the surface of a silicon wafer. The field emitters are then buried in layers of glass and conductive polysilicon to produce the grid and anode. The last step is to remove the glass layers, leaving the free standing anode and grid with 1 to 2 {mu}m separations. Vacuum microelectronics are expected to be hard to more than 10{sup 17} neutrons/cm{sup 2} and 10{sup 8} Rad(Si) of gammas without sustaining permanent damage. Note that this is three to four orders of magnitude greater than the radiation levels that comparable silicon devices can withstand. Upset is expected to be on the order of 10{sup 11} Rad(Si)/s, compared to 10{sup 8} Rad(Si)/s for silicon devices. Vacuum microelectronics should also be able to withstand in excess of 775 K, compared to a maximum of 650 K for the best silicon devices. Our current work involves enhancing the sharpness of the field emitters, so that they can operate at lower voltages. Recent applications of an oxidation sharpening method has created tips with a radius of curvature on the tip of less than 10 {angstrom}. 4 refs., 6 figs., 1 tab.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE/DP
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 7256976
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-101479; CONF-891205-4; ON: DE90008302
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: IEEE international electron devices meeting, Washington, DC (USA), 3-6 Dec 1989
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
MICROELECTRONICS
DESIGN
ANODES
CATHODES
DIODE TUBES
FIELD EMISSION
PROGRESS REPORT
RADIATION EFFECTS
SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES
TRIODE TUBES
VACUUM SYSTEMS
DOCUMENT TYPES
ELECTRODES
ELECTRON TUBES
EMISSION
426000* - Engineering- Components
Electron Devices & Circuits- (1990-)
360601 - Other Materials- Preparation & Manufacture
440200 - Radiation Effects on Instrument Components
Instruments
or Electronic Systems