Growth of in situ CoSi2 layer by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition onSi tips and its field-emission properties

We prepared Si emitters coated with a metalorganic chemical vapor deposited CoSi2 layer to improve emission properties. The CoSi2 layer was grown in s itu by reactive chemical vapor deposition of cyclopentadienyl dicarbonyl co balt at 650 degreesC. The CoSi2 layer was conformally deposited on the Si e mitter tips and had a twinned structure at the epitaxial CoSi2/Si interface in the partial region. The CoSi2-coated Si emitters showed an enhanced emi ssion due to the increase in the number of emitting sites from the Fowler-N ordheim plot. The fluctuation of emission current was reduced by the CoSi2 coating. But the long-term stability was not much improved, which may be du e to the decrease of the field enhancement factor and the number of emittin g sites of the CoSi2-coated Si tip. (C) 2001 American Vacuum Society.