Numerical study on performance of pyramidal and conical isotropic etched single emitters

Abstract A full three-dimensional model was implemented in order to investigate the electrical characteristics of conical and pyramidal isotropic etched emitters. The analysis was performed using the finite element method (FEM). The simulations of both emitters were modeled using a combination of tetrahedral and hexahedral elements that are capable of creating a mapped and regular mesh in the vacuum region and an irregular mesh near the surfaces of the emitter. The electric field strengths and electric potentials are computed and can be used to estimate the field enhancement factor as well as the current density using the Fowler–Nordheim (FN) theory. The FEM provides results at nodes located at discrete coordinates in space; therefore, the surface of the emitter can be generated through a function interpolating a set of scattered data points. The emission current is calculated through integration of the current density over the emitter tip surface. The influences of the device geometrical structure on its potential distribution, electric field and emission characteristics are discussed.

[1]  Soichiro Okuda,et al.  Geometry effects arising from anodization of field emitters , 2000 .

[2]  K. Jensen,et al.  Electron emission from a single spindt-type field emitter: Comparison of theory with experiment , 1997 .

[3]  Eric Munro,et al.  A computer program for electron gun design using second‐order finite elements , 1989 .

[4]  S. Kanemaru,et al.  Emission current saturation of the p‐type silicon gated field emitter array , 1996 .

[5]  Andrew G. Glen,et al.  APPL , 2001 .

[6]  M. Nagao,et al.  Characterization of enhanced field emission from HfC-coated Si emitter arrays through parameter extraction , 2003, IEEE/CPMT/SEMI. 28th International Electronics Manufacturing Technology Symposium (Cat. No.03CH37479).

[7]  Kevin L. Jensen,et al.  An analytical solution for microtip field emission current and effective emission area , 2002 .

[8]  R. Huang,et al.  A theoretical study on field emission array for microsensors , 1992 .

[9]  Lei Wei,et al.  Simulation study on performance of field emitter array , 1998 .

[10]  C. Spindt,et al.  Physical properties of thin‐film field emission cathodes with molybdenum cones , 1976 .

[11]  R. Forbes,et al.  Some comments on models for field enhancement. , 2003, Ultramicroscopy.

[12]  Dan Nicolaescu,et al.  Physical basis for applying the Fowler–Nordheim J–E relationship to experimental I–V data , 1993 .

[13]  J. Jung,et al.  Process development of gated field emitter arrays with dry etched amorphous silicon microtips on glass substrates , 2000 .

[14]  W. N. Carr,et al.  Simulation and design of field emitters , 1990 .

[15]  T. Utsumi,et al.  Vacuum microelectronics: what's new and exciting , 1991 .