Analysis of the slope of the Fowler-Nordheim plot for field emission from semiconductors [GaN and Si]

The field emission current densities j from semiconductors are obtained using a fully exact calculation scheme and are plotted in the Fowler-Nordheim (FN) coordinates. In the range of j/spl les/10/sup 3/A/cm/sup 2/, the slope of the FN plots for semiconductors has two values while it is constant for metals. It is found that the nonlinearity in slope of the FN curve reflects the mixed effects of the barrier height, the carrier supply, tunneling, and involved energy bands.