A High-Efficiency Electron-Emitting Diode Based on Horizontal Tunneling Junction

We propose a tunneling electron-emitting diode based on horizontal tunneling junction, which consists of an insulator nanogap horizontally sandwiched between two thin conducting films on an insulating substrate. A theoretical method is established to simulate electron emission from the horizontal tunneling electron-emitting diode (HTEED), and the device performances and their dependence on device parameters are theoretically studied. It is found that an emission efficiency can reach up to 21.0%-25.9% for practical device application, which makes HTEEDs a promising on-chip electron source.