High-density metallic nano-emitter arrays and their field emission characteristics

• Published in: Nanotechnology 2014-02, Vol.25 (8), p.085203-6
• Main Authors: Mustonen, Anna, Guzenko, Vitaliy, Spreu, Christian, Feurer, Thomas, Tsujino, Soichiro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arrays; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Current density; Density; Devices; Electrodes; Electron and ion emission by liquids and solids; impact phenomena; electron cathode; Electron states and collective excitations in thin films, multilayers, quantum wells, mesoscopic and nanoscale systems; Electronic structure and electrical properties of surfaces, interfaces, thin films and low-dimensional structures; Exact sciences and technology; fabrication; Field emission; Field emission, ionization, evaporation, and desorption; field emitter; Gates; Materials science; Nanocrystalline materials; Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization; Nanostructure; nanotips; Physics
• ISSN: 0957-4484; 1361-6528
• DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/25/8/085203

We report the fabrication and field emission properties of high-density nano-emitter arrays with on-chip electron extraction gate electrodes and up to 106 metallic nanotips that have an apex curvature radius of a few nanometers and a the tip density exceeding 108 cm−2. The gate electrode was fabricated on top of the nano-emitter arrays using a self-aligned polymer mask method. By applying a hot-press step for the polymer planarization, gate-nanotip alignment precision below 10 nm was achieved. Fabricated devices exhibited stable field electron emission with a current density of 0.1 A cm−2, indicating that these are promising for applications that require a miniature high-brightness electron source.