SILICON FIELD EMITTER CAPABLE OF LOW-VOLTAGE EMISSION

A silicon field emitter of a very low voltage emission type has been o btained. In this emitter, a thermal SiO2 film was used as an insulator which separates the gate electrode from the cathode substrate. It is easy to decrease the distance between the gate electrode and the emitt er by thermal oxidation and oblique deposition process. In this field emitter, in spite of 3 mum diameter of initial mask size, we were able to obtain a 400 nm gap which is the distance between the gate electro de and the emitter tip. Therefore, the onset of emission was establish ed at gate voltages as low as 10 V with Fowler-Nordheim-like emission characteristics. Then anode current was 2.5 muA at 25 V in one emitter and transconductance (g(m) = DELTAIA/DELTAVG) was 0.5 muS.