Influence of electron energy distribution in nanocathodes on current-voltage characteristics

The peculiarities of electron field emission from silicon based multilayer cathodes have been investigated. The structure under study was Si tip coated with SiO
₂
-Si-SiO
₂
multilayer. The coating was formed by low pressure chemical vapor deposition of silicon enriched SiO
_x
film (d=6.6 nm) and following thermal annealing. The electron distribution in silicon tip (3D) and quantum dot (1D) were taken into account during calculation of emission current. As it was shown the emitted electron energy distribution has two peaks. The emission current-voltage characteristic calculated based on the obtained electron energy distribution is in a good quality agreement with experimental one.