Recent development of diamond microtip field emitter cathodes and devices

Recent development of diamond field emitter cathodes and devices fabricated from molding process is presented. Practical modifications involving the s p(2) content, surface treatment, boron doping, and tip sharpening to furthe r enhance diamond field emission are discussed. A new fabrication process f or achieving ultrasharp diamond tips with a radius of curvature less than 5 nm has been achieved and shows significant improvement in emission charact eristics. Discussion of this enhanced emission in diamond microtips is pres ented in accordance with analysis of emission behavior. The development of high site density of uniform diamond microtip arrays is presented. We also report the development of a new technique to fabricate self-aligned gate di amond emitter diodes, which achieve very high emission characteristics at e xtremely low applied voltage. The latest development aims to integrate diam ond field emitters with silicon-based MEMS processing technology and achiev e totally monolithic diamond field emitter devices on silicon wafers. Preli minary results in the triode-configuration demonstrate promising transistor characteristics suitable for vacuum microelectronic applications. (C) 2001 American Vacuum Society.