SEM and Field Mmission study of silicon field emitter array

Abstract

Arrays of nanometer-scale field emitters have recently become attractive candidates for device applications where high frequency and high current are desirable attributes. High emission current can be obtained from densely packed Spindt-type emitter arrays with very low extraction voltage. Concern with the optimum geometrical shape of each emitter and the fraction of active emitters, makes a combined study of field emission and scanning electron microscopy especially useful.Several geometrical structures, as well as several materials, have been used to fabricate the field emitter arrays. The present study concentrates on silicon-base emitters fabricated at the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina (MCNC). Each emitter has a pyramidal structure, fabricated by anisotropic chemical etching of highly doped (ND = 1017 cm−3) n-type silicon. Figure 1 shows a SEM micrograph of a typical Si field emitter with a radius of curvature less than 30 nm. The field required for electron emission, about 3 × 107 V/cm, is created by a relatively low voltage applied to the extraction gate, a metal film less than one micron distant and deposited over a dielectric layer of silicon oxide (Figures 2 and 3).