Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:02:30.099Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anomalous Field Enhancement in Planar Semiconducting Cold Cathodes from Spontaneous Ordering in the Accumulation Region

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2011

Griff L. Bilbro  and
Robert J. Nemanich
Griff L. Bilbro
Affiliation:
Department of ECE, NC State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7911
Robert J. Nemanich
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, NC State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8202
Get access

Abstract

Wide band gap semiconductors exhibit a low electron affinity and may prove suitable for cold cathode applications. We introduce a simple closed-form analytic approximation for the stability of electrons in the electron accumulation layer of planar Low Electron Affinity (LEA) semiconducting cathodes. This analysis extends our previous results, which used Runge-Kutta numerical integration of the linearized equations of motion for the electric potential and quasi Fermi level. The model shows conditions in which the electrons in the accumulation layer form a two dimensional array of regions of higher and lower electron density. This instability could lead to field enhancement without surface roughness and could account for observed electron emission at low applied fields.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 621: Symposia Q/R – Electron-Emissive Materials, Vacuum Microelectronics… , 2000 , R6.4.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1] Benjamin, M.C., Bremser, M.D., Weeks, T.W. Jr., King, S.W., Davis, R.F., and Nemanich, R.J.. Applied Surface Science 104/105, 455–460 (1996); Presented at Fifth international Conference on the Formation of Semiconductor Interfaces, Princeton, NJ, June 26-30, 1995.Google Scholar
[2] Shaw, J. L., Gray, H. F., Jensen, K. L., and Jung, T. M., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 14, 2072 (1996).Google Scholar
[3] Jensen, K. L., Yater, J. E., Zaidman, E. G., Kodis, M. A., and Shih, A., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 16, 2038 (1998).Google Scholar
[4] Hatfield, C. W. and Bilbro, G. L., J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 17, 552 (1999).Google Scholar
[5] Bilbro, G. L. and Nemanich, R. J., Appl. Phys. Lett. Vol. 76 No. 7, 891 (2000).Google Scholar
[6] Sowers, A. T., Ward, B. L., English, S. L., and Nemanich, R. J., J. Appl. Phys. 86, 3973 (1999).Google Scholar
[7] Stratton, R., Proc. Phys. Soc. (London) B46, 746 (1955).Google Scholar