Electron emission mechanism from cubic boron nitride-coated molybdenum emitters

The energy distribution of field-emitted electrons from Mo tips coated with intrinsic cubic boron nitride (c-BN) was studied in an effort to determine the origin of the emitted electrons. Voltage-dependent field-emission energy distribution (V-FEED) spectra were collected from the Mo emitters under ultra-high-vacuum conditions both before and after being coated. Emission current at a given voltage increased by as much as two orders of magnitude for the c-BN-coated emitters relative to bare emitters. The energy of field-emitted electrons from the c-BN-coated emitters was linearly dependent upon the applied voltage. Extrapolation of V-FEED data from c-BN-coated emitters to the flatband condition evidenced that the electrons were emitted from the conduction-band minimum of the c-BN coating at the c-BN/vacuum interface.