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Fabrication and Characterization of Singly-Addressable Arrays of Polysilicon Field-Emission Cathodes.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2011

N.N. Chubun ,
A.G. Chakhovskoi ,
C.E. Hunt  and
M. Hajra
N.N. Chubun
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of California, Davis, CA. 95616, U.S.A
A.G. Chakhovskoi
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of California, Davis, CA. 95616, U.S.A
C.E. Hunt
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of California, Davis, CA. 95616, U.S.A
M. Hajra
Affiliation:
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of California, Davis, CA. 95616, U.S.A
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Abstract

Polysilicon is a promising candidate material for field-emission microelectronics devices. It can be competitive for large-size, cost-sensitive applications such as flat-panel displays and micro electro-mechanical systems. Singly-addressable arrays of field-emission cells were fabricated in a matrix configuration using a subtractive process on Polysilicon-On-Insulator substrates. Matrix rows were fabricated as insulated polycrystalline silicon strips with sharp emission tips; and matrix columns were deposited as gold thin film electrodes with round gate openings. Ion implantation has been used to provide the required conductivity of the poly-Si layer. To reduce radius of curvature of the polysilicon tips, a sharpening oxidation process was used. The final device had polysilicon emission tips with end radii smaller than 15 nm, surrounded by gate apertures of 0.4 μm in diameter. Field emission properties of the cathodes were measured at a pressure of about 10-8 Torr, to emulate vacuum conditions available in sealed vacuum microelectronics devices. It was found that an emission current of 1 nA appears at a gate voltage of 25 V and can be increased up to 1μA at 70 V. Over this range of current, no “semiconductor” deviation from the Fowler-Nordheim equation was observed. I-V characteristics measured in cells of a 10x10 matrix, with a cell spacing of 50 μm demonstrated good uniformity and reproducibility.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 621: Symposia Q/R – Electron-Emissive Materials, Vacuum Microelectronics… , 2000 , R1.5.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

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References

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