Molybdenum field-emitter arrays

Molybdenum field-emitter arrays were first reported 30 years ago, but have only recently been the object of significant research in the scientific community. In this paper we briefly review the more common applications, and detail the design and processing parameters that can be manipulated to meet specific application needs. For display, relatively small emission current (up to about 100 /spl mu/A range), the lowest possible drive voltage, and large area uniformity are the goals. Microwave operation requires high emission current (/spl sim/0.1 A), high current density, and very high-speed emission modulation. Emitters for electron-impact ionizers must be relatively insensitive to their operating environment, must be buffered against emitter-to-gate arcover, and must operate at moderate currents (/spl sim/10 mA). In addition, processes such as field forming and plasma processing to enhance emission for specific uses are available options. These processes are discussed, and examples of experimental results are given.