Experimental observations of gated field emitter failures

Author

Browning, Jim ; McGruer, Nicol E. ; Bintz, W.J. ; Gilmore, M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Eng., Northeastern Univ., Boston, MA, USA

Volume

13

Issue

3

fYear

1992

fDate

3/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

167

Lastpage

169

Abstract

Intrinsic failure events in gated field emitters have been studied. The gate-emitter voltage, typically 140 V during operation, drops to 10-70 V at the onset of the failure. Measurements with a diagnostic probe indicate that plumes of ions and electrons are ejected into vacuum with the ion current typically 10% of the electron current. The arc voltage and the ion-to-electron current ratio are characteristic of a cathodic vacuum arc. For series resistors less than 1 k Omega , the arc is continuous, whereas for series resistors greater than 10 k Omega , the arc is intermittent.<>

Keywords

arcs (electric); electron field emission; failure analysis; vacuum microelectronics; 10 to 70 V; 140 V; Si-SiO/sub 2/-Al; arc voltage; cathodic vacuum arc; diagnostic probe; electron current; electron plumes; gate-emitter voltage; gated field emitter failures; intrinsic failure events; ion current; ion plumes; ion-to-electron current ratio; series resistors; vacuum field emitters; Aluminum; Capacitance; Coaxial components; Current measurement; Electrons; Probes; Resistors; Silicon; Testing; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/55.144999

Filename

144999