High-current field emission electron source using a reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) cathode

Author

Carpenter, Arthur C. ; Hunt, Charles E.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of California, Davis, CA, USA

fYear

2009

fDate

20-24 July 2009

Firstpage

287

Lastpage

288

Abstract

A high current density field emission source with high brightness could have many applications in science, medicine and engineering. High field emission current densities have been demonstrated from a large-area, Ar-ion irradiated, reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) cathode, in a triode configuration. The RVC cathode contains many small nanowires, <50nm in diameter, that serve as excellent field emission tips. The field modification generated by a voltage applied to a grid electrode placed around the cathode increases emission at a given cathode potential. This triode configuration is robust and inexpensive.

Keywords

cathodes; current density; electron field emission; ion beam effects; nanowires; triodes; vacuum microelectronics; Ar-ion irradiated; brightness; current densities; field emission electron source; grid electrode; nanowires; reticulated vitreous carbon cathode; triode configuration; Brightness; Carbon dioxide; Cathodes; Current density; Electrodes; Electron sources; Mesh generation; Nanowires; Robustness; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference, 2009. IVNC 2009. 22nd International

Conference_Location

Shizuoka

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-3587-6

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-3588-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IVNC.2009.5271681

Filename

5271681