Effect of illlumination on thermionic emission from microfabricated silicon carbide structures

Microfabricated thermionic emitters form a crucial part of thermionic energy converters, which could find applications in future concentrated solar thermal power plants. Here we report a new stress-relieved design for p-doped and n-doped silicon carbide (SiC) emitters, measurements of their thermionic emission and work functions at temperatures of up to 2900K, and the effect of optical irradiation on both types of SiC emitters. We also report the first observation of the photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) in a thin-film microfabricated emitter.