Uniform High-Current Cathodes Using Massive Arrays of Si Field Emitters Individually Controlled by Vertical Si Ungated FETs—Part 2: Device Fabrication and Characterization

Author

Velásquez-García, Luis Fernando ; Guerrera, Stephen A. ; Niu, Ying ; Akinwande, Akintunde Ibitayo

Author_Institution

Microsyst. Technol. Labs. (MTL), Massachusetts Inst. of Technol. (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA

Volume

58

Issue

6

fYear

2011

fDate

6/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1783

Lastpage

1791

Abstract

We report the demonstration of electron sources that achieve high-current and uniform emission using dense arrays of Si field emitters (FEs) that are individually ballasted by a current source. Each FE is fabricated on top of a vertical ungated field-effect transistor (FET), a two-terminal device based on a very-high-aspect-ratio Si column. The ungated FET takes advantage of the velocity saturation of electrons in silicon, the high aspect ratio of the ungated FET, and the doping concentration to achieve current-source-like behavior to obtain reliable uniform and high-current electron emission. Emitted currents in excess of 0.48 A were demonstrated.

Keywords

cathodes; electron field emission; elemental semiconductors; field effect transistors; field emitter arrays; silicon; Si; current 0.48 A; field emitters; high-current electron emission; uniform high-current cathodes; vertical ungated FET; very-high-aspect-ratio column; Current measurement; Doping; Electronic ballasts; FETs; Iron; Silicon; Voltage measurement; Ballasting; Si field emission arrays (FEAs); cathodes; electron supply control; vertical ungated Si field-effect transistors (FETs);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TED.2011.2128323

Filename

5765492