Improvement of electron emission efficiency and stability by surface application of molybdenum silicide onto gated poly-Si field emitters

Author

Hyung Soo Uh ; Byung Gook Park ; Jong Duk Lee

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. Eng., Seoul Nat. Univ., South Korea

Volume

19

Issue

5

fYear

1998

fDate

5/1/1998 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

167

Lastpage

170

Abstract

As an approach to improve electron field emission and its stability, molybdenum (Mo) silicide formation on n/sup +/ polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) emitters has been investigated. Mo silicide was produced by direct metallurgical reaction, namely, deposition of Mo and subsequent rapid thermal annealing. The surface morphologies and emission properties of Mo-silicided poly-Si (Mo-polycide) emitters have been examined and compared with those of poly-Si emitters. While anode current of 0.1 μA per tip could be obtained at the gate voltage of 82 V from poly-Si emitters, the same current level was measured at 72 V from Mo-polycide emitters. In addition, the application of Mo silicide onto poly-Si emitters reduced the emission current fluctuation considerably. These results show that the polycide emitters can have potential applications in vacuum microelectronics to obtain superior electron emission efficiency and stability.

Keywords

current fluctuations; electron field emission; rapid thermal annealing; semiconductor device metallisation; silicon; vacuum microelectronics; 0.1 muA; 72 V; 82 V; MoSi-Si; Si; anode current; composite layered structure; direct metallurgical reaction; electron emission efficiency; electron emission stability; electron field emission; emission current fluctuation; gated polysilicon field emitters; gated vacuum field emitter arrays; metal deposition; molybdenum silicide; polycide emitters; rapid thermal annealing; surface application; surface morphologies; vacuum microelectronics; Anodes; Current measurement; Electron emission; Fluctuations; Rapid thermal annealing; Silicides; Silicon; Stability; Surface morphology; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.669737

Filename

669737