Polycrystalline silicon field emitters

Field emission of electrons from polycrystalline silicon tips has been investigated. Two process routes, wet and dry etching, were used to form the tips, and their structures were computed using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). TEM micrographs of the wet-etched polysilicon tips show the presence of many individual grains at the emitter tip. Field emission current-voltage data was collected from the wet-etched polycrystalline emitter tips immediately after etching and after oxidation-sharpening. This data was then compared with that collected from single crystal silicon emitters.