Abstract
A new composite oxidation method combining rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) and electrochemical oxidation (ECO) is proposed to improve electron emission characteristics of electron emitters based on thick porous silicon (PS) layers. Four groups of electron emitters with 8 μm PS layers were oxidized by RTO, ECO, composite RTO–ECO, and composite ECO–RTO, respectively. The experimental results indicated greater emission current density and efficiency of electron emitters oxidized by composite oxidation versus ECO or RTO alone. The most favorable results occurred for an electron emitter oxidized by ECO–RTO, with an emission current density of 2.2 A/m2 and efficiency of 2.9%. The higher and more uniform the oxygen content in the PS layer after oxidation, the better the electron emission characteristics that the authors noted. Thick PS layers can be oxidized completely and uniformly by composite oxidation to achieve adequate oxygen content with uniform distribution. This subsequently leads to formation of a longer acceleration tunnel, which increases effective emission area and continuously speeds up electrons.
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