Advances in Novel Low-Macroscopic Field Emission Electrode Design Based on Fullerene-Doped Porous Silicon

Rostislav Smerdov,Alexander Mustafaev,Yulia Spivak,Pavel Somov,Victor Gerasimov,Ivan Bizyaev,Vyacheslav Moshnikov

doi:10.3390/electronics10010042

Abstract

Perspective low-macroscopic field (LMF) emission prototype cathodes based on fullerene C60—doped porous silicon were realized via a two-stage technique comprising the electrochemical etching process of a monocrystalline silicon wafer and functionalization of the acquired porous silicon (PS) matrix with silver-doped fullerene-based carbon structures. The resulting LMF cathode prototypes were studied with SEM and EDS techniques. The formation of an amorphous silver-doped C60-based layer consisting of nanosized aggregates on the matrix surface was established. The emission characteristics of the prototypes were analyzed, crucial parameters including threshold field strength values, emission current density, and effective potential barrier height for electrons were considered. A novel LMF emission model is suggested. It was established that the emitter prototypes realized during this study are on par with or superior to modern and promising field cathodes.

Highlights

The development of electron microscopy methods required for the comprehensive study and control of the phase composition and surface structure of composite materials is necessary to carry out quantitative analysis of small-scale areas with nanometer spatial resolution
From the presented SEM images, the structure of the layer formed directly on the matrix of porous silicon is not visible, from our earlier studies [10,11] it is known that the surface of porous silicon immediately after the completion of the synthesis stage is covered with a high-resistivity surface thin oxide layer, the existence of which is further supported by the results of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy investigation of the initial porous silicon matrix
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Summary

Introduction

The development of electron microscopy methods required for the comprehensive study and control of the phase composition and surface structure of composite materials is necessary to carry out quantitative analysis of small-scale areas with nanometer spatial resolution. The solution to this problem lies in the field of the development of various methods and techniques for increasing the brightness of an electron gun by using cathodes of various geometries (for example, sharp-tip field emitter arrays (FEA) [1]), as well as creating new materials [2,3]. Only those electrons are selected that have undergone one-time collisions (i.e., one-time characteristic energy losses), while the receiver detects the electrons that were not deflected and separates them according to their energy

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion