FABRICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PD-SILICIDED EMITTERS FOR FIELD-EMISSION DEVICES

The structure of Pd-silicided held emitters based on the silicon micro machining technology has been demonstrated. The uniform and extremely sharp silicided emitters are formed using wet chemical etching, low-te mperature oxidation sharpening (LTOS), metal coating, and furnace anne aling. The silicided emitters are firstly identified by the bright-hel d, dark-held images, and diffraction patterns of transmission electron microscope (TEM). Under the applied voltage of 1100 V, the anode curr ents of the Pd-coated and silicided emitters are 16 mu A and 26 mu A, respectively. The values of threshold voltage V-T for Pd-coated and si licided emitters are about 745 V and 785 V, respectively. The lower th reshold voltage of the Pd-coated emitters is duo to the smaller emissi on work function of palladium. The emission work function of the Pd-si licided emitters is calculated to be 8.31 eV. Furthermore; the long an d short-term current stabilities of silicided emitters is also better than that of Pd-coated ones. These results show that these silicided e mitters have potential applications in vacuum microelectronics to obta in superior Lifetime, reliability, and stability.