Der Vordurchschlagsstrom im Hochvakuum. I. Die Spannungsabhängigkeit des Stromes bei konstantem Feld

Pre-breakdown currents were measured in the range from 10⁻¹⁷ to 10⁻⁹ A in a vacuum of 10⁻⁹ Torr. The cathode was the extended (100) surface of a nickel single crystal. In the range from 10⁻¹⁵ to 10⁻¹¹ A the current curves could be measured in times ≦ 1 s. It was found that the emission is not constant in times < 1 s. The currents show a fluctuation in times < 1 s which is voltage depending. The average current (measured in times > 1 s) rises with the total voltage at constant field. This is interpreted by a voltage depending work function which varies by the influence of ionic bombardment on adsorbed gas layers. This view is supported by a pronounced effect of oxygen adsorption. The total voltage effect causes a considerably error in the field enhancement factor β and the emitting surface which are calculated from the Fowler-Nordheim plots.     

接触电阻对碳纳米管场发射的影响

基于改进的悬浮球模型,计算了碳纳米管和衬底间的接触电阻存在时碳纳米管顶端的局域电场, 并结合Fowler-Nordheim (F-N)场发射规律研究了接触电阻对碳纳米管场发射的影响.研究表明,接触电阻的存在,在高电场区域接触电阻抑制了碳纳米管的电子场发射,导致在高电场区域出现电流饱和及FN直线偏折现象.其原因可归结为接触电阻使得在碳纳米管顶端的局域电场相对于没有接触电阻时相对地减少. 关键词： 碳纳米管 场发射 接触电阻 电流饱和     

Oszillographische Messungen der Fowler-Nordheim-Geraden

A method for rapid measurement of Fowler-Nordheim curves is described. By means of this method the change of the work function due to gas adsorption in the field electron microscope can be investigated. Our results are in good agreement with the theoretical prediction. Furthermore, we examined the adsorption at constant voltage and with constant emission current and compared these with the undisturbed adsorption. It has been found that the accelerated adsorption is due to the emission current.     

碳纳米管的变温场发射

考察了温度变化对沉积在钨丝针尖上的碳纳米管场发射的影响，发现碳纳米管场发射电流随温度升高而增大，场发射电流的稳定性基本没有变化. 多根碳纳米管的场发射特性随温度变化出现偏离Fowler-Nordheim理论的现象，这种现象可能来自碳纳米管的不均匀性.     

纳米碳管阵列场发射电流密度的理论数值优化

以纳米碳管阵列为研究对象,利用镜像悬浮球模型及Fowler-Nordheim电流密度公式,对纳米碳管阵列的场发射电流密度进行计算,进而综合考虑场发射增强因子及场发射电流密度对纳米碳管阵列场发射性能进行定量优化.参考碳管阵列场发射电流密度最大值及场发射增强因子,表明当纳米碳管阵列间距为碳管高度十分之一时,纳米碳管阵列的场发射性能得到优化.与以前的理论估算结果相比,优化的阵列间距进一步减小.当纳米碳管间距过大,场发射增强因子增加,而场发射电流密度会在更大程度上减小;当纳米碳管密度较大时,场发射增强因子受到静电 关键词： 纳米碳管 场发射 增强因子 电流密度     

Deviation from the Fowler-Nordheim formula for the field emission current from nanoparticles

It is shown that the field emission current from nanoparticles does not obey the Fowler-Nordheim relation due to nonlinear dependence of the potential in the region between the points of turn. The transmittance of the potential barrier of a needle cathode on a flat metal base as a function of the medium interelectrode field is calculated. The calculated field emission current is considerably lower than the experimentally observed current. The reasons of this discrepancy are discussed.     

Enhanced field emission from LaB6 thin films with nanoprotrusions grown by pulsed laser deposition on Zr foil

Lanthanum hexaboride (LaB₆) films have been deposited on a zirconium foil by pulsed laser deposition method. The field emission studies of the LaB₆ deposited film have been performed in the planar diode configuration under ultra high vacuum conditions. The Fowler-Nordheim plots were found to be linear in accordance with the quantum mechanical tunneling phenomenon. A typical field emission current of 7.02 μA was drawn at an applied electric field of 2 V/μm. The field enhancement factor is calculated to be 8913 cm⁻¹, indicating that the field emission is from nanoscale protrusions present on the emitter surface. The atomic force microscope (AFM) investigation of the surface clearly shows the conical shaped nanoprotrusions of few hundred nanometers with asperities of 20-40 nm on its top. The emission current-time plot recorded at the pre-set value of emission current of 5 μA over a period of more than 3 h exhibits an initial increase and subsequent stabilization of the current. The results reveal that the LaB₆/Zr field emitter obtained by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is a promising cathode material for practical applications in field emission-based devices.     

Photofield emission from SiGe nanoislands under green light illumination

Photofield emission from SiGe nanoislands formed by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) have been investigated. Two types of nanoislands, namely the domes and pyramids with different heights, have been addressed. It was found that the arrays of SiGe nanoislands exhibited a low onset voltage for field emission. The increase of emission current and the decrease of the curve slope in Fowler-Nordheim coordinates under green light illumination have been revealed. Electron field emission and photoemission from SiGe nanoislands have been explained based on the energy band diagram of Si-Ge heterostructure and some energy barriers have been determined.     

Field emission studies of selenium adsorption on tungsten and molybdenum

The adsorption of selenium on tungsten and molybdenum field emitters has been studied. Despite the topographical similarity of the two substrates there are marked differences in the migration and localised adsorption of the first two monolayers of selenium. Anomalous behaviour of the emission current and Fowler-Nordheim parameters is found for adsorption on both substrates. Measurements on single crystal planes indicate that this behaviour is not caused by localised growth or clustering effects. It is suggested that the model proposed by Nicolaou and Modinos to explain similar effects during germanium adsorption on tungsten is also applicable in the present case.     

Characterization of GaN nanostructures by electron field and photo-field emission

The electron field and photo-field emission from GaN nanostructures has been analyzed in this review. In order to explain the obtained experimental results, a model was proposed taking into account the change in carrier concentration distribution in the main and the satellite valley during the emission process. The lowering of work function (due to the increased number of carriers in the satellite valley) can explain the decrease in the Fowler-Nordheim plot slope. It was shown that the energy difference between the main and satellite valley in GaN was decreased in the case of quantum confinement, thus increasing the probability of electron transition from Γ to X valley at same electric fields.Investigations of electron photo-field emission demonstrated that the Fowler–Nordheim plots of the emission current have different slopes for nonilluminated and illuminated devices. A model based on the electron emission from valleys having different specific electron affinities is proposed to explain the experimental results. In the absence of illumination the emission takes place only from the lower valley. Upon UV illumination and presence of a high electric field at the emitter tip, the upper valley of the conduction band appears to be occupied by electrons generated at the valence band.     

Self-consistent density functional calculation of field emission currents from metals

We have developed a fully self-consistent method which is suitable to examine field emission currents, on the basis of the density functional theory. In our method, the nearby counterelectrode is not necessary. By using this method, we have investigated field emission currents from a biased metallic surface represented by the jellium model. We have found that the energy barrier between the jellium and vacuum becomes lower than the Fermi energy under strong electric fields (e.g., 10 V/nm for r(s) = 4 bohr). In this situation, the slope of the Fowler-Nordheim plot becomes flatter than that under a weaker field.     

A statistical evaluation of the field emission for copper oxide nanostructures

A statistical data analysis methodology was developed to evaluate the field emission properties of many samples of copper oxide nanostructured field emitters. This analysis was largely done in terms of Seppen-Katamuki (SK) charts, field strength and emission current. Some physical and mathematical models were derived to describe the effect of small electric field perturbations in the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) equation, and then to explain the trend of the data represented in the SK charts. The field enhancement factor and the emission area parameters showed to be very sensitive to variations in the electric field for most of the samples. We have found that the anode-cathode distance is critical in the field emission characterization of samples having a non-rigid nanostructure.     

Effect of the space charge of emitted electrons on field electron emission

It is shown that the conventional technique of substituting the field strength at the space charge-emitter interface that is calculated with the Poisson equation into the Fowler-Nordheim formula considerably overestimates the effect of space charge on field electron emission. In this work, the space-charge-induced field attenuation as a function of the emission current density and radius of curvature of the emitter surface is derived using the model of a planar space-charge layer. It is argued that field electron emission cannot be studied in terms of the spherical diode model, since it assumes the presence of a space charge on the back (nonemitting) emitter surface, which is in fact absent. It is stated that one should consider the discrete character of the charges when investigating the space charge in field electron emission, because the mean spacing between the electrons emitted far exceeds the emission barrier width.     

Validity of the Fowler-Nordheim parameters measured for silicon adsorption on single crystal faces of tungsten

The adsorption of silicon on the (112), (111), (100), (110), (113) and (116) planes of tungsten field emitters has been studied. As with Ge and CdS adsorption, anomalous behaviour of the Fowler-Nordheim parameters A and φ was observed together with non-linearity in the Fowler-Nordheim plots. This non-linearity is not explicable in terms of the theories proposed for bulk semiconductors. The present results support the suggestion that field-induced Si migration from the W substrate is responsible for anomalies in the F-N parameters.     

Erhöhung der Feldelektronen-Emission von Wolframspitzen durch Aufdampfen von Beryllium

The mean work function of tungsten determined from Fowler-Nordheim plots can be reduced from 4.5 to 2.5 eV by depositing a thin layer of evaporated beryllium and subsequent thermal treatment at 800 °C in a vacuum of 10^?7 to 10^?10 Torr. Electron and ion field emission patterns of tungsten tips with and without beryllium demonstrate the effect of the beryllium deposit. For an application of the tungsten tips with beryllium, the excellent stability and the high emissivity at low voltages are of interest.     

纳米碳管阵列场增强因子的计算

采用悬浮球模型，结合对称的镜像电荷层方法，对静电场中纳米碳管阵列的场增强因子进行了计算，并在考虑极板间距的情况下，对其计算结果做了修正.结果表明：纳米碳管阵列的间距对纳米碳管阵列的场发射性能影响很大.当纳米碳管阵列中碳管间距小于碳管高度时，场增强因子随间距的减小而急剧减小；而当碳管间距显著大于碳管高度时，场增强因子几乎不变.但当考虑阴阳极之间单位面积通过的场发射电流时，可论证当管间距与管高度相若时，能使场发射电流密度最佳(最大).另外，极板间距对场增强因子的影响很小，但是可以通过减小极板间距，来降低纳米碳管作为场发射体的场发射的开启电压，优化纳米碳管的场发射性能. 关键词： 纳米碳管阵列 场增强因子 开启电压     

Electrical conduction in thin thermally nitrided SiO2 (nitroxide)

Nitridation-enhanced conduction in thin nitroxide films has been examined in detail. Significant increase of high field current is attributed both to the enhanced Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling injection and the Poole-Frenkel (PF) emission; the latter is confirmed by the linear dependence of log(I_PF) on E and the existence of a self-consistent dynamic dielectric constant. It is found that the enhancement of electron FN tunneling arises mainly from the piling up of nitrogen at the surface, but the PF component originates from the traps which are related to the nitrogen concentration in the bulk of nitroxide.     

纳米金刚石的变温场发射

研究了温度变化对沉积在钛基底上的纳米金刚石的场发射特性的影响,发现纳米金刚石场发射电流随温度和电场的升高而增大,场发射特性偏离了传统的Fowler-Nordheim理论,场发射电流的稳定性基本没有变化.分析了场发射电流增大的机理,表明是由于纳米金刚石的尺度效应以及外电场下金刚石产生了大量的热载流子共同作用的结果.研究还表明基底钛在温度升高到一定程度后,在外加电场下会有较大的电流产生,对场发射造成较大的影响,表明基底钛具有一定的温度敏感性和电压敏感性. 关键词： 场发射 纳米金刚石 尺度效应 热载流子     

金刚石基底上氮化硼薄膜的场发射特性研究

 利用射频磁控溅射方法,在金刚石膜上沉积了氮化硼薄膜。红外光谱分析表明,氮化硼薄膜的结构为六角氮化硼。在超高真空系统中测量了样品的场发射特性,沉积在金刚石膜上的氮化硼薄膜的阈值电场为12 V/μm,最大发射电流密度为272 μA/cm²。并且沉积在金刚石膜上的氮化硼薄膜的场发射特性明显优于金刚石薄膜本身的场发射特性。这说明,氮化硼薄膜可以有效地改善金刚石膜的场发射特性。场发射Fowler-Nordheim（F-N）曲线表明,电子发射是通过遂穿表面势垒完成的。     

单根纳米导线场发射增强因子的计算

利用镜像电荷模型，对静电场中单根纳米导线尖端的电势和电场进行计算，得到纳米导线发射体尖端场增强因子表达式为β０＝h/ρ+35. 若考虑极板间距对场增强因子的影响，则场增强因子的表达式调整为β＝〖SX(〗h〖〗ρ〖SX)〗+35+A〖JB((〗〖SX(〗h〖〗d〖SX)〗〖JB))〗3,其中h，ρ分别为纳米导线的长度和半径，d为极板间距，A为常数. 结果表明纳米导线的长径比对场增强因子的影响最显著，而极板间距对纳米导线的场增强因子只有微弱影响，随极板距离的增加而减小. 关键词： 纳米导线 场发射 增强因子 极板间距