Si-Tips with Saturated High Concentration Arsenic Dopant at the Nano-Apexes for Uniform Field Electron Emission

Both numerical simulation and experimental investigations revealed that the arsenic concentration in the nano-apex of Si tip can reach a saturated high level (i.e., ~6.7×10
²¹
/cm
³
) through a controllable oxidation process. We take the thermal-induced dopant re-diffusion and self-limitation by the solubility of arsenic in Si into account for the findings. The forming of saturated arsenic concentration at tip-apex could improve the tip-to-tip uniformity of the dopant concentration in an array, and thus enhance the electron emission. Highly reliable gated emitters array (40×40) with typical current density of ~254.53 mA/cm
²
(229.08 μ A@118.40 V) was demonstrated using Si-tips with saturated dopant concentration.