ELECTRIC-FIELD OF POORLY CONDUCTING TIP

A new method to calculate electrostatic fields is proposed and the fie ld in the vicinity of a poorly conducting needle tip is calculated usi ng this method. It is shown that for such a needle the electric field strength can be many times smaller than that for an analogous metal ne edle with the same potential of the tip. The known effect of the depen dence of the size of field emission images of semiconductive tip on th e potential applied is analyzed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.