Investigations of resonance tunneling emission structures for microwave oscillators

Vacuum microelectronics devices cover a significant part of the electronic device range, including flat panel displays and sensors. However, a central place among these devices is occupied by high frequency generators, due to advantages connected with electron transitions in vacuum. The main elements of high frequency electronics are miniature diodes and triodes. In some previous works, the resonance tunneling phenomena during electron field emission have been analyzed theoretically and observed in experiments. In this work, we study the peculiarities of electron field emission from silicon with multilayer Si-SiO/sub 2/-Si-Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ film structures. The characteristic feature of such a structure is the existence of asymmetric quantum wells. The resonant electron field emission in n-Si-SiO/sub 2/-Si-Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ multilayer cathodes (MLC) with two quantum wells (QWs) is investigated with the purpose of obtaining generation and amplification of electromagnetic oscillations, in diode structures based on these cathodes. The theoretical model of electron resonant tunneling processes in such MLCs, taking into account electron wave oscillation coupling in adjacent QWs of the MLC, is created. The capability of improvement of resonant emission characteristics of MLCs due to coupling of resonant oscillations of electron waves in adjacent QWs is studied.