Low leakage current fabrication of optically gated silicon field emitter arrays

Photofield emission from gated silicon field emitter array showed improvements on efficiency and dynamic range at the expense of higher dark current as the gate voltage increased. For 830 nm, efficiency approached 19% and dynamic range approached 7.2 at 100 V. Measured saturation behavior was attributed to screening of the applied field. Ratio of field emission current over leakage current peaked at 75 before the onset of current interception by the gate. Nanosecond time scale response was detected with short pulse excitation at 82 MHz repetition