Nitrogen incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond based field emitter array for a flat-panel x-ray source

Abstract

A field emission based flat-panel transmission x-ray source is being developed as an alternative for medical and industrial imaging. A field emitter array (FEA) prototype based on nitrogen incorporated ultrananocrystalline diamond film has been fabricated to be used as the electron source of this flat panel x-ray source. The FEA prototype was developed using conventional microfabrication techniques. The field emission characteristics of the FEA prototype were evaluated. Results indicated that emission current densities of the order of 6 mA/cm2 could be obtained at electric fields as low as 10 V/μm to 20 V/μm. During the prototype microfabrication process, issues such as delamination of the extraction gate and poor etching of the SiO2 insulating layer located between the emitters and the extraction layer were encountered. Consequently, alternative FEA designs were investigated. Experimental and simulation data from the first FEA prototype were compared and the results were used to evaluate the performance of alternative single and double gate designs that would yield better field emission characteristics compared to the first FEA prototype. The best simulation results are obtained for the double gate FEA design, when the diameter of the collimator gate is around 2.6 times the diameter of the extraction gate.