A Low-Voltage, Premodulation Terahertz Oscillator Based on a Carbon Nanotube Cold Cathode

To develop miniaturized and compact vacuum electron devices, new approaches to device manufacturing must be embraced. Here, a terahertz oscillator based on carbon nanotube (CNT) cold cathode is investigated through particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The studies show that the high-frequency (HF) field excited by the device can modulate the field emission current efficiently, with an output power of 4.6 W at 139.4 GHz obtained at an operating voltage of 2.9 kV and an initial emission current and current density of 15.8 mA and 7.65 A/cm
²
, respectively, and the efficiency is 10.0%.