Stability consideration of metal-diamond-vacuum micro-emission regimes

Details are given of both experimental and theoretical studies of the vacuu m breakdown phenomena associated with field emission from a metal-diamond-v acuum micro-emission regime. Real-time recording in conjunction with the tr ansparent anode imaging technique was employed to study the process of the breakdown event. It was found that such an event can be cathode initiated d ue to the thermal heating in diamond film emitter. The theoretical study sh ows that a new mechanism is responsible for thermal instability of a channe l: the effect of temperature rise of the channel on field emission from sub strates. The results calculated based on the new theory are qualitatively c onsistent with the experimental findings. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. Al l rights reserved.