Field emission from quantum size GaN structures

Whisker structures and quantum dots fabricated by photoelectrochemical (PEC) etching of undoped and doped metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-grown GaN (2×10¹⁷ or 3×10¹⁸ cm⁻³) are investigated in relation with their field-emission characteristics. Different surface morphologies, corresponding to different etching time and photocurrent, results in different field-emission characteristics with low turn-on voltage down to 4 V/μm and the appearance of quantum-size effect in the I–V curves.     

Synthesis and field emission properties of GaN nanowires

Gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires grown on nickel-coated n-type Si (1 0 0) substrates have been synthesized using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and the field emission properties of GaN nanowires have been studied. The results show that (1) the grown GaN nanowires, which have diameters in the range of 50-100 nm and lengths of several micrometers, are uniformly distributed on Si substrates. The characteristics of the grown GaN nanowires have been investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and through these investigations it was found that the GaN nanowires are of a good crystalline quality (2) When the emission current density is 100 μA/cm², the necessary electric field is an open electric field of around 9.1 V/μm (at room temperature). The field enhancement factor is ∼730. The field emission properties of GaN nanowires films are related both to the surface roughness and the density of the nanowires in the film.     

不同基底的GaN纳米薄膜制备及其场发射增强研究

采用脉冲激光沉积 (PLD) 方法在Si及SiC基底上制备了相同厚度的GaN纳米薄膜并对其进行了微结构表征及场发射性能测试分析. 结果表明: 基底对于GaN薄膜微结构及场发射性能具有显著的影响. 在SiC基底上所制备的GaN纳米薄膜相对于Si基底上的GaN纳米薄膜, 其场发射性能得到显著提升, 其场发射电流可以数量级增大. 场发射显著增强应源于纳米晶微结构及取向极化诱导增强效应. 本研究结果表明, 要获得优异性能场发射薄膜, 合适基底及薄膜晶体微结构需要重点考虑. 关键词： 基底 GaN 纳米薄膜 场发射     

Peculiarities of electron field emission from ZnO nanocrystals and nanostructured films

ZnO microcrystals and nanocrystals were grown on silicon substrates by condensation from vapour phase. Nanostructured ZnO films were deposited by plasma enhanced metal organic chemical vapour deposition (PEMOCVD). The parameters of field emission, namely form-factor β and work function , were calculated for ZnO structures by the help of the Fowler–Nordheim equation. The work functions from ZnO nanostructured films were evaluated by a comparison method. The density of emission current from ZnO nanostructures reaches 0.6 mA/cm² at electric force F=2.110⁵ V/cm. During repeatable measurements β changes from 5.810⁴ to 2.310⁶ cm⁻¹, indicating improvement of field emission. Obtained values of work functions were 3.7±0.37 eV and 2.9–3.2 eV for ZnO nanostructures and ZnO films respectively.     

Morphology control and electron field emission properties of high-ordered Si nanoarrays fabricated by modified nanosphere lithography

High-ordered silicon nanoarrays were prepared using direct nanosphere lithography combined with thermal oxidation. Atomic force microscope (AFM) images of the silicon arrays show that the patterns of polystyrene (PS) template are well transferred to the silicon surface. The size and morphology of the nanoarrays can be controlled effectively by varying the plasma-therm reactive ion etching (RIE) or thermal oxidation parameters. The field emission studies revealed that the typical turn-on field was about 7-8 V/μm with emission current reached 1 μA/cm². It is also found that the field emission current is highly dependent on the morphology of these Si nanoarrays.     

Growth and electron field emission of ZnO nanorods on diamond films

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods grown on chemical vapor deposited diamond films by thermal vapor transport method have been investigated. In the initial growth status, the semi-spherical ZnO nuclei were preferably deposited near the growth steps on the terraces and the boundaries of diamond grains. With increasing the growth time, the [0 0 0 1] orientated ZnO nanorods appeared and further covered the whole diamond film. It is found that the size of diamond grains would determine the diameter of ZnO nanorods. The electron field emission properties of the ZnO nanorods/diamond system have been significantly improved with respect to pure diamond film. The feature of the ZnO nanorods grown on diamond films played an important role in further enhancing the electron field emission performances.     

三维热场致发射模型的数值模拟与研究

研究了场致发射与热电子发射的基本理论, 得出热场致发射的适用公式, 探讨了其粒子的初始分布和初始动量, 并在FDTD-PIC原理的基础上编写了软件, 分别实现了场致发射模型, 热电子发射模型和热场致发射模型, 通过分别对一个长楔形阴极器件的数值模拟, 从发射电流特性, 电子初始能量分布等方面验证了其正确性.     

Model calculation and empirical investigation of enhanced field emission behavior of branched carbon nanostructures

In this paper, we propose the novel branched carbon nanotubes (B-CNTs) as efficient candidate for field emission applications. We believe that the double-stage structure of B-CNTs, beside formation of multiple thin branches at the apex of each vertical CNT, is responsible for the observed enhanced field emission behavior in B-CNTs. In this regard, we have derived an analytical model to evaluate the field enhancement factor (β) of the B-CNTs in comparison with CNTs, as the most popular cathode for field emission applications in the scientific society. The presented model also allows investigating the effect of different structural parameters on the field emission characteristic. We have also, compared the field emission characteristics of the B-CNTs with vertical CNTs experimentally. We observed a β value for B-CNTs which was around three times higher than CNTs. The observed enhancement in the experimental data was in good agreement with the presented analytical model.     

Efficient light emission from crystalline and amorphous silicon nanostructures

Optical and electronic properties of crystalline silicon (c-Si) and amorphous silicon (a-Si) nanostructures are reviewed. The photoluminescence (PL) peak energies of c-Si and a-Si nanostructures are blueshifted from those of bulk c-Si and a-Si. The temperature dependence of the PL intensity is drastically improved in c-Si and a-Si nanostructures, and efficient luminescence from c-Si and a-Si nanostructures is observed at room temperature. The quantum confinement, spatial confinement, and surface effects on luminescence properties are summarized and the PL mechanism of silicon nanostructures is discussed.     

Mechanism of field electron emission from carbon nanotubes

Field electron emission (FE) is a quantum tunneling process in which electrons are injected from materials (usually metals) into a vacuum under the influence of an applied electric field. In order to obtain usable electron current, the conventional way is to increase the local field at the surface of an emitter. For a plane metal emitter with a typical work function of 5 eV, an applied field of over 1 000 V/μm is needed to obtain a significant current. The high working field (and/or the voltage between the electrodes) has been the bottleneck for many applications of the FE technique. Since the 1960s, enormous effort has been devoted to reduce the working macroscopic field (voltage). A widely adopted idea is to sharpen the emitters to get a large surface field enhancement. The materials of emitters should have good electronic conductivity, high melting points, good chemical inertness, and high mechanical stiffness. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are built with such needed properties. As a quasi-one-dimensional material, the CNT is expected to have a large surface field enhancement factor. The experiments have proved the excellent FE performance of CNTs. The turn-on field (the macroscopic field for obtaining a density of 10 μA/cm²) of CNT based emitters can be as low as 1 V/μm. However, this turn-on field is too good to be explained by conventional theory. There are other observations, such as the non-linear Fowler-Nordheim plot and multi-peaks field emission energy distribution spectra, indicating that the field enhancement is not the only story in the FE of CNTs. Since the discovery of CNTs, people have employed more serious quantum mechanical methods, including the electronic band theory, tight-binding theory, scattering theory and density function theory, to investigate FE of CNTs. A few theoretical models have been developed at the same time. The multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) should be assembled with a sharp metal needle of nano-scale radius, for which the FE mechanism is more or less clear. Although MWCNTs are more common in present FE applications, the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are more interesting in the theoretical point of view since the SWCNTs have unique atomic structures and electronic properties. It would be very interesting if people can predict the behavior of the well-defined SWCNTs quantitatively (for MWCNTs, this is currently impossible). The FE as a tunneling process is sensitive to the apex-vacuum potential barrier of CNTs. On the other hand, the barrier could be significantly altered by the redistribution of excessive charges in the micrometer long SWCNTs, which have only one layer of carbon atoms. Therefore, the conventional theories based upon the hypothesis of fixed potential (work function) would not be valid in this quasi-one-dimensional system. In this review, we shall focus on the mechanism that would be responsible for the superior field emission characteristics of CNTs. We shall introduce a multi-scale simulation algorithm that deals with the entire carbon nanotube as well as the substrate as a whole. The simulation for (5, 5) capped SWCNTs with lengths in the order of micrometers is given as an example. The results show that the field dependence of the apex-vacuum electron potential barrier of a long carbon nanotube is a more pronounced effect, besides the local field enhancement phenomenon.     

Microstructured silicon surfaces for field emission devices

Enhanced field emission of electrons from silicon surfaces was obtained by surface microstructuring, by means of electrochemical oxidation in organic solutions containing HF. Morphological characterisations showed the formation of cylindrical rods, randomly distributed with relative spacing of a few microns. They are originated at the top of silicon pyramids and have typical diameter in the 100 nm range. Variable length in the 1–50 μm range was obtained, by adjusting the process parameters. Electron field emission properties were characterised for several samples, prepared in different conditions: the emission threshold was found to be strongly correlated with the overall charge exchanged during electrochemical oxidation. In the most favourable conditions, the threshold field for the emission of an electron current I_th = 10⁻¹⁰ A was 11.1 V/μm.     

An easy way to controllably synthesize one-dimensional Sm B_6 topological insulator nanostructures and exploration of their field emission applications

A convenient fabrication technique for samarium hexaboride(SmB_6) nanostructures(nanowires and nanopencils) is developed, combining magnetron-sputtering and chemical vapor deposition. Both nanostructures are proven to be single crystals with cubic structure, and they both grow along the [001] direction. Formation of both nanostructures is attributed to the vapor-liquid-solid(VLS) mechanism, and the content of boron vapor is proposed to be the reason for their different morphologies at various evaporation distances. Field emission(FE) measurements show that the maximum current density of both the as-grown nanowires and nanopencils can be several hundred μA/cm~2, and their FN plots deviate only slightly from a straight line. Moreover, we prefer the generalized Schottky-Nordheim(SN) model to comprehend the difference in FE properties between the nanowires and nanopencils. The results reveal that the nonlinearity of FN plots is attributable to the effect of image potential on the FE process, which is almost independent of the morphology of the nanostructures.All the research results suggest that the SmB_6 nanostructures would have a more promising future in the FE area if their surface oxide layer was eliminated in advance.     

纳米硅上的弯曲表面效应及其特征发光

纳米硅结构使能带的带隙展宽,并形成准直接能带带隙结构.弯曲表面上的某些键合可以在带隙中产生局域电子态,计算表明:纳米硅弯曲表面上的Si-N,Si=O和Si-O-Si键合能够分别在带隙中2.02 eV,1.78 eV和2.03 eV附近形成局域态子带,对应了实验光致荧光谱(PL)中605 nm处的LN线、693 nm处的LO1线和604 nm处的LO2线特征发光.特别是,Si-Yb键合在纳米硅弯曲表面上可以将发光波长调控到光通信窗口,在1310 nm到1600 nm范围形成LYb线特征发光.     

金纳米结构表面二次电子发射特性

使用低气压蒸发工艺制备了金纳米结构,研究了金纳米结构的二次电子发射特性及其对表面形貌的依赖规律,表征了金纳米结构表面出射二次电子能量分布.实验结果表明:蒸发气压升高时,金纳米结构孔隙率增大,表面电子出射产额降低;能量分布表明金纳米结构仅对低能真二次电子有明显抑制作用,对背散射电子的作用效果则依赖于表面形貌.使用由半球和沟槽构成的复合结构,并结合二次电子发射唯象概率模型,对金纳米结构进行模型等效及电子发射特性仿真,模拟结果表明:纳米结构中的半球状纳米颗粒对两种电子产额均有增强作用;沟槽对真二次电子产额有强抑制作用,而对背散射电子产额仅有微弱抑制作用.本工作深入研究了金纳米结构表面电子发射机理,对于开发空间微波系统中纳米级低电子产额表面有重要参考价值.     

Confinement of the field electron emission to atomic sites on ultra sharp tips

The spatially controlled field assisted etching method for sharpening metallic tips, in a field ion microscope (FIM), is used to study the evolution of the field emission when the tip apex radius is decreased below 1 nm. Unlike the conventional image formation in a field emission microscope (FEM), we demonstrate that at this scale the field emission is rather confined to atomic sites. A single atom apex fabricated at the end of such tips exhibits an outstanding brightness compared to other atomic tips. The measurements have been repeated for two double atom tips, with different atom-atom separations, and images of atomic field emission localization have also been obtained. We have found that the field emission intensity alternates between adjacent atoms when the applied voltage is gradually increased beyond a threshold value.     

场致发射的温度效应对微波管爆炸电子发射的影响

为研究场致发射的温度效应对微波管中爆炸电子发射过程的影响,在对比分析低温条件下的场致发射电流密度Fowler-Nordheim（FN）和一般的电子发射电流密度积分公式的基础上,利用细长圆柱形微凸起模型,重点考虑焦耳加热和热传导两个因素,编程计算得到了微凸起内部的温度分布和不同位置处温度随时间的变化。结果表明:场致发射的温度效应是一个重要影响因素,考虑温度对场致发射的影响后,微凸起内部各点的温度随时间呈非线性增长,且增长速率越来越大;在微波电场强度较弱时,若不考虑场致发射的温度效应而直接用FN公式表示的电流密度代入计算,会使爆炸发射延迟时间变短;当微波电场很强时,温度效应对爆炸发射延迟时间的影响则较小。     

二极管间隙距离对场致发射过程中空间电荷效应的影响

在强电场条件下,由阴极通过场致发射产生的电子具有很强的空间电荷效应,因此真空二极管的空间电荷限制电流是设计高功率微波源等强流电子束器件时需要考虑的重要参数.场致发射电流密度只和阴极材料、阴极表面电场等有关,而空间电荷效应则会受二极管电压、间隙距离等因素的影响.为研究二极管间隙距离对场致发射过程中空间电荷效应的影响,建立了由场致发射阴极构成的一维平板真空二极管物理模型,利用第一性原理的粒子模拟方法,研究了二极管间隙距离和外加电压等参数变化时的阴极表面电场随时间的演变特性,得到了阴极表面稳态电场和二极管间隙距离之间的关系.结果表明,场致发射过程开始后,阴极表面电场先有个振荡过程,随后趋于稳定;在同一外加电场条件下,间隙距离越长,稳态电场的绝对值越小,且达到稳态所需的时间也越长;间隙距离越短,当阴极表面电场达到稳定状态时,二极管间隙区的电场分布变化越剧烈.     

氧化锌纳米线的紫外光耦合增强场电子发射特性

本文采用热化学气相沉积方法制备氧化锌纳米线阵列, 研究氧化锌纳米线阵列在紫外光辐照下的场电子发射特性. 实验结果表明, 在紫外光辐照下, 氧化锌纳米线场发射开启电压降低, 发射电流明显增大. 机理分析认为, 氧化锌纳米线紫外光增强的场发射源自场电子发射与半导体耦合作用, 紫外光激发价带电子跃迁到导带和缺陷能级使发射电子数量增加, 同时, 光生电子发射降低了发射材料表面的有效功函数, 从而显著增强场电子发射性能. 氧化锌纳米线具有紫外光耦合增强场电子发射特性, 在光传感、冷阴极平板显示和场发射电子源等方面具有潜在的应用价值.     

Effects of laser field and electric field on impurity states in zinc-blende GaN/AlGaN quantum well

Based on the effective-mass approximation, the competition effects between the laser field and applied electric field on impurity states have been investigated variationally in the ZB GaN/AlGaN quantum well (QW). Numerical results show that for any laser field, the electric field makes the donor binding energy present asymmetric distribution with respect to the center of the QW. Moreover, when the laser field is weak, the electric field effects are obvious on the donor binding energy; however, the electric field effects are insensitive to the variation of donor binding energy in the ZB GaN/AlGaN QW with strong laser field.     

Theoretical analysis of the electronic structure of truncated-pyramidal GaN/AlN quantum dots

We present a theoretical analysis of the electronic structure of GaN/AlN quantum dots (QD) with a hexagonal, truncated-pyramidal shape. We use a Fourier-transform technique that we had previously developed to calculate the 3D strain and built-in electric fields due to the QD structure. The electron and hole energy levels and wavefunctions are then calculated in the framework of an 8-band k·P model (with zero spin–orbit splitting), using an efficient plane-wave expansion method. We show that because of the large built-in piezoelectric and spontaneous polarization fields, the calculated transition energy is sensitive to variations in the wetting layer width, pyramid top diameter and also to the values chosen for the piezo-electric constants and spontaneous polarization values of bulk GaN and AlN. Numerical results are presented for a set of GaN/AlN QD structures that have been studied experimentally and described in the literature. We find that the calculated value of the ground-state optical transition energy for these structures is in good agreement with experiment.