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Field Emission Characteristic of Silicon Cathodes Coated with GaN Nanoparticles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2011

M. Hajra
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.University of California, Davis, CA
N.N. Chubun
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.University of California, Davis, CA
A.G. Chakhovskoi
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.University of California, Davis, CA
C.E. Hunt
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.University of California, Davis, CA
K. Liu
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept.University of California, Davis, CA
A. Murali
Affiliation:
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Dept. University of California, Davis, CA
S H. Risbud
Affiliation:
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Dept. University of California, Davis, CA
T. Tyler
Affiliation:
Materials Science and Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
V. Zhirnov
Affiliation:
Materials Science and Engineering Department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
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Abstract

Arrays of p-type silicon micro-emitters have been formed using a subtractive tip fabrication technique. Following fabrication, the emitter surface was coated with GaN nanoparticles and nanocrystalline diamond by a dielectrophoresis deposition technique. The emitters were evaluated and compared before and after the surface treatment using I-V measurements in the diode configuration. The phosphor screen, used as the anode, was spaced nominally about 70 µm from the cathode. The field emission characteristics were measured in a high vacuum chamber at a pressure range between 10−5and 10−8Torr. The results suggest that the emitters benefit from coating the surface with nanocrystalline diamond in terms of reduction in the turn on voltage, GaN coating increase the turn on voltage. Both diamond and GaN improved the emission uniformity in the region of the low voltage operation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2001

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