P‐102: Three‐Dimensional Simulation of Novel Surface Conduction Electron‐Emitters

Abstract

We for the first time explore a novel structure of Pd thin-film emitter fabricated on the substrate with various gaps ranging from 30 nm to 90 nm. With the 3D electromagnetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation, we study the conducting mechanism and driving current for the new device with one palladium field emission emitter. Compared with the experimental data, our calibrated simulation predicts a high emission efficiency of the investigated device structure. It is found that the turn-on voltage is about 50V and a very high electron emission current of 0.1 mA is estimated at the anode voltage of 80 V for one emitter. The novel structure of surface conduction electron-emitter (SCE) has the advantages of the simple fabrication and the high emission efficiency. Based upon the numerical procedure, we are currently investigating the emission efficiency for more advanced structures of SCE.

High field emission efficiency surface conduction electron emitters

“…According to the calibrated model and the experimental data [8][9][10][11][12], Fig. 4 shows the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics for the sample with 90 nm nanogap by two fabricated methods, where the Vg varies from 0 V to 300 V. The solid line indicates the data of FIB technique, the dashed-line is the HE results, and symbols are calibrated data.…”

“…We first use two methods to fabricate 90 nm nanogap in the palladium (Pd) thin-film strips. One is formed by FIB technique and the other is by hydrogen embrittlement [8][9][10][11][12]. All process steps are compatible with contemporary integrated circuit technology.…”

“…We first formulate a calibrated model with the experimental data by using the numerical simulation [10][11][12]. The computational flowchart of FDTD-PIC simulation is shown in Fig.…”

“…In this work, two structures of SCEs fabricated by hydrogen embrittlement (HE) [8] and focused ion beam (FIB) technique [9][10][11][12] with the separation of 90 nm wide have been investigated computationally. The calibrated model is performed by a 3D FDTD-PIC simulation for self-consistent solution of the electromagnetic fields and charged particles.…”

Numerical Simulation of Field Emission in the Surface Conduction Electron-Emitter Display

“…According to our calibrated model [6], high accuracy results could be obtained in this work. Figure 3(a) shows the contour plot of electric fields with the anode voltage (Va) is 3000 V, and the gate voltage (Vg) is 60 V. The fields are higher around the emitter apex and the electrons here are accelerated to energies sufficient to be tunneled from the metal into vacuum.…”