Gated micrometer-size electron field emitters

A procedure has been developed for making arrays of gated micrometer-size electron field emitters from silicon with some advantages over similar processes developed elsewhere. One-micron-high emitters are made with radii as small as 1 nm, and with self-aligned flat gate electrodes with low capacitance and with the circular gate opening controlled to submicrometer diameter independently of the tip height. Emission measurements show expected Fowler-Nordheim behavior, with the Fowler-Nordheim curves (I/V/sup 2/ versus 1/V) parallel but displaced along the 1/V axis for different tips. The field factor K (where E=K*V) is derived from the measured slope, and the emission area is derived from K, the Fowler-Nordheim equation, and an assumed work function.