BRIGHT-FIELD ANALYSIS OF FIELD-EMISSION CONES USING HIGH-RESOLUTION TRANSMISSION ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY AND THE EFFECT OF STRUCTURAL-PROPERTIES ON CURRENT STABILITY
Wd. Goodhue et al., BRIGHT-FIELD ANALYSIS OF FIELD-EMISSION CONES USING HIGH-RESOLUTION TRANSMISSION ELECTRON-MICROSCOPY AND THE EFFECT OF STRUCTURAL-PROPERTIES ON CURRENT STABILITY, Journal of vacuum science & technology. B, Microelectronics and nanometer structures processing, measurement and phenomena, 12(2), 1994, pp. 693-696
High-resolution transmission electron microscopy has been used to anal
yze 150 nm diameter by 150 nm high polycrystalline molybdenum field-em
ission cones. The analysis shows that the cones comprise 5 to 10 nm th
ick grains with tips having gross radii of curvature of about 5 nm and
protrusions having radii of curvature of about 1 nm. Such small protr
usions may explain why analysis of experimental emission data indicate
s that the effective emission area of such tips is only 0.1 to 0.5 nm2
. Furthermore, the fact that the structure is composed of small grains
indicates that there is a substantial number of molybdenum atoms at g
rain boundaries and that many configurations of grains and boundaries
are possible with minimal free energy. A qualitative model is proposed
which links the structural properties to -current stabilization and h
ydrogen passivation effects.