Analytical modeling of thermal effects on prolate ellipsoid field emission microemitter

Thermal distribution and thermal effects are very important to the stability and reliability of field emission devices. In order to study the thermal effects on the performance of field emission devices, an analytical model far a prolate ellipsoid field emitter is presented in this paper. Temperature distribution for this model is derived by accurately solving the thermal condition equations, which is appropriate for all kinds of emitters. Thermal effects on the field emission are also investigated. Results show that the temperature increase in the bulk of the field emitter in normal working conditions does not result in failure of the field emitter. The simulation results agree well with experimental results