An ultra-compact electron-beam column

In this paper, an electron optical system with an array of columns was developed for an electron-beam addressable data storage device that has the form factor of compact flash and capacity > 10 GB. The columns were analyzed with a single Spindt emitter and a three-aperture focusing structure that focuses the beam into a 40 nm core that contains ∼ 60% of the beam current and a tail that spreads to several hundred nanometers. The focusing structure and the emission characteristics for Spindt emitters were presented. An extended electron source that consists of an array of regularly or randomly distributed point emitters which consists of a randomly distributed hemi-spherical poly-silicon nodules (NPS) with 20 ± 5 nm radius. The physical and electron emission characteristics of NPS were also presented. A novel electron optical column to focus the emission from the NPS extended electron source into a diameter < 30 nm was developed.