A proposal for a new type of thin-film field-emission display by edge breakdown of MIS structure

Abstract

A new type of field emission display (FED) based on an edge-enhance electron emission from metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) thin film structure is proposed. The electrons produced by an avalanche breakdown in the semiconductor near the edge of a top metal electrode are initially injected to the thin film of an insulator with a negative electron affinity (NEA), and then are injected into vacuum in proximity to the top electrode edge. The condition for the deep-depletition breakdown near the edge of the top metal electrode is analytically found in terms of ratio of the insulator thickness to the maximum (breakdown) width of the semiconductor depletition region: this ratio should be less than 2/(3π − 2) ≃ 0.27. The influence of a neighboring metal electrode and an electrode thickness on this condition are analyzed. Different practical schemes of the proposed display with a special reference to M/CaF 2 /Si structure are considered.