Abstract
Silicon carbide (SiC) nanostructure is a type of promising field emitter due to high breakdown field strength, high thermal conductivity, low electron affinity, and high electron mobility. However, the fabrication of the SiC nanotips array is difficult due to its chemical inertness. Here we report a simple, industry-familiar reactive ion etching to fabricate well-aligned, vertically orientated SiC nanoarrays on 4H-SiC wafers. The as-synthesized nanoarrays had tapered base angles >60°, and were vertically oriented with a high packing density >107 mm−2 and high-aspect ratios of approximately 35. As a result of its high geometry uniformity—5% length variation and 10% diameter variation, the field emitter array showed typical turn-on fields of 4.3 V μm−1 and a high field-enhancement factor of ~1260. The 8 h current emission stability displayed a mean current fluctuation of 1.9 ± 1%, revealing excellent current emission stability. The as-synthesized emitters demonstrate competitive emission performance that highlights their potential in a variety of vacuum electronics applications. This study provides a new route to realizing scalable field electron emitter production.
Highlights
To date, the turn-on fields (Eto, generally defined as the electric field to generate a current density of 10 μA/cm2 ) of 1D Silicon carbide (SiC) nanostructures is commonly several V/μm [6,7,8,9], and higher than that of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), it does support the highly stable emission of very high voltage and current densities highlighting the material’s potential as a novel high power
These nanoarrays were formed by RIE etching on 1 × 1 cm2 samples, without masking, to allow samples to be mounted in the size-limited FE measurement system
The mechanism of forming such vertically-oriented large-scale SiC nanostructures was outlined by Liu et al [34]
Summary
Applications given their low electron affinity, high electron mobility, and high breakdown field strength, outstanding chemical and physical stability, and high thermal conductivity [2,3,4]. Such chemical and physical properties make SiC suitable for use in high-power, high-voltage, and high-temperature, and otherwise aggressive environments [5]. To date, the turn-on fields (Eto , generally defined as the electric field to generate a current density of 10 μA/cm2 ) of 1D SiC nanostructures is commonly several V/μm [6,7,8,9], and higher than that of CNTs, it does support the highly stable emission of very high voltage and current densities highlighting the material’s potential as a novel high power
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