Micromachining technology for lateral field emission devices

Author

Milanovic, V. ; Doherty, Lance ; Teasdale, Dana A. ; Parsa, Siavash ; Pister, Kristofer S J

Author_Institution

La Jolla Microsyst. Inst., San Diego, CA, USA

Volume

48

Issue

1

fYear

2001

fDate

1/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

166

Lastpage

173

Abstract

We demonstrate a range of novel applications of micromachining and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for achieving efficient and tunable field emission devices (FEDs). Arrays of lateral field emission tips are fabricated with submicron spacing utilizing deep reactive ion etch (DRIE). Current densities above 150 A/cm² are achieved with over 150·10⁶ tips/cm². With sacrificial sidewall spacing, electrodes can be placed at arbitrarily close distances to reduce turn-on voltages. We further utilize MEMS actuators to laterally adjust electrode distances. To improve the integration capability of FEDs, we demonstrate batch bump-transfer of working lateral FEDs onto a quartz target substrate

Keywords

CMOS integrated circuits; current density; microactuators; micromachining; sputter etching; vacuum microelectronics; CMOS wafer; MEMFED; MEMS actuators; SiO₂; batch bump-transfer; current densities; deep reactive ion etch; electrode distance adjustment; integration capability; lateral field emission devices; lateral field emission tip arrays; microelectromechanical systems; micromachining technology; oxidation sharpening; quartz target substrate; sacrificial sidewall spacing; submicron spacing; tunable field emission devices; turn-on voltage reduction; Actuators; Current density; Electrodes; Electron tubes; Etching; Microelectronics; Micromachining; Micromechanical devices; Silicon; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.892185

Filename

892185