Field emitter arrays with current saturation and current control capabilities

Abstract

We proposed to study the effects on gated field emitter arrays (FEAs) such as the Spindt cathodes <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1</sup> when a field-effect semiconductor device is incorporated with the emitters. The voltage on the grid electrode induces the field emission while the emission current can be controlled with the field effect device. The advantages of these FEA cathodes are: 1) explosive destruction of the emitters due to excessive current can be prevented by current saturation in the semiconductor device, 2) current control can be achieved with very low voltage when compared to current control with the grid voltage, 3) higher transconductance for the cathode, 4) high modulation frequencies, and 5) possible simultaneous spatial and temporal modulation of the cathode. We will present the design of these FEAs using the 2D computer code S-PISCES 2B and the experimental test plans.