Prediction of field-emission array drive characteristics from single-tip I-V data

Abstract

IntroductionA typical fieldemission array contains numerous individual emitters, each emitter having a current-voltage (I-V) characteristic that may, and generally does, vary widely from its neighbors. This variability in the singleemitter I-V curve makes it difficult to predict the I-V curve for the entire array in an ensemble sense because the distribution of the variability is usually not known, leading' to difficulty in establishing the I-V characteristic' for the average emitter., This study reports on the analysis of emission data collected from a set of singleemitter cathodes and uses the results of the analysis to predict the'expectation value of the I-V