Fabrication and electrical characterization of high aspect ratio silicon field emitter arrays

Micromachined high aspect ratio field emitter areas have been realized to o btain stabile and uniform emission current. Dry etching based on gas choppi ng method was used to etch the 2-mum-high ultra-sharp emitter tips in singl e-crystal silicon. Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films of 25-100 nm thickness w ere deposited from hydrocarbon precursor gas on the Si tips applying induct ively coupled plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (ICPECVD) technique . Partial stabilization of emission current versus time due to oxygen or ni trogen plasma treatment could be related to surface passivation and/or form ation of stable DLC/nanolayer on the emitter surface. It has been shown tha t DLC-coated emitters provide a comparable good long-term emission stabilit y-the emission current did almost not decrease during a 46 h operation cycl e. Summarizing we can say that high aspect ratio field emitter areas seem t o have favorable field emission properties in respect to long-term stabilit . (C) 2001 American Vacuum Society.