Emission characteristics of NbC/Nb field emitters

Author

Charbonnier, F. ; Southall, L. ; Mackie, A.

Author_Institution

Appl. Phys. Technol. Inc, McMinn Ville, OR, USA

fYear

2003

fDate

7-11 July 2003

Firstpage

5

Lastpage

6

Abstract

We report on an extensive study of the emission characteristics (noise and stability) of these NbC/Nb emitters at currents of /spl sim/1 /spl mu/mA and in residual pressure ranging from 3/spl times/10/sup -9/ to 3/spl times/10/sup -6/ Torr for seven different gases, Ar, C/sub 2/H/sub 2/, CH/sub 4/, CO, H/sub 2/, H/sub 2/O and O/sub 2/. These array tips are individually addressable so we can study and compare the emission characteristics of single emitters. The emitting surface is rough and contaminated, and the emission comes from a variable number of nanoprotrusions. Consequently the emission is much less stable than it would be for a clean smooth emitter. But our measurements are representative of the real world of microelectronics arrays.

Keywords

electron field emission; niobium; niobium compounds; vapour deposited coatings; 1 muA; 3/spl times/10/sup -9/ to 3/spl times/10/sup -6/ torr; NbC-Nb; NbC/Nb field emitters; clean smooth emitter; emission characteristics; emitting surface; residual pressure; Argon; Gases; Microelectronics; Niobium compounds; Pollution measurement; Rough surfaces; Stability; Surface cleaning; Surface contamination; Surface roughness;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Vacuum Microelectronics Conference, 2003. Technical Digest of the 16th International

Conference_Location

Osaka, Japan

Print_ISBN

4-8181-9515-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IVMC.2003.1222946

Filename

1222946