Field emission characterization of nanoFEAs on single crystal CeB6 surface fabricated by focused ion beam milling

Abstract

The field emission tip arrays with sub-100 nm apices (nanoFEAs) on single crystal cerium hexaboride (CeB6) surface were fabricated by the focused ion beam (FIB) milling microtechnology. The surface morphologies and field emissions of the nanoFEAs are systematically characterized. FIB milling, similar to the physical stripping process, can fabricate the nanoFEAs single crystal CeB6 with uniform morphologies. The nanoFEAs with sharp tips of size about 50 nm demonstrate the lowest turn-on electric fields (2.0 V/[Formula: see text]m), as well as a high current ([Formula: see text]1 mA) at the field of 6.7 V/[Formula: see text]m and a high stable emission current. Such excellent performances make CeB6 nanoFEAs promising candidates for application in field emission electronics.