Fabrication and characteristics of an emitter-sharpened double-gate racetrack-shaped field emitter structure

In this article, numerical and experimental characterizations of an emitter -sharpened double-gate racetrack-shaped field emitter structure are reporte d. The racetrack-shaped edge emission with double-gate control is used to p rovide good uniformity, large field emission current density, and small tur n-on voltage. In order to improve the performance of this structure further ; an emitter-sharpened structure is used to minimize gate current. Experime ntal results show that the gate current of the emitter-sharpened double-gat e structure is 7 times and 15 times smaller than that of the nonemitter-sha rpened double-gate structure and the single-gate structure, respectively. S imulated results also show that the gate current of the emitter-sharpened d ouble-gate structure can almost be eliminated. (C) 1999 American Vacuum Soc iety. [S0734-211X(99)03202-3].