Oxide coated silicon tip arrays for electron emission

Abstract

The study of cold cathode materials is currently an active topic of research due to widespread and important applications of these materials in products such as field emission displays and vacuum microelectronic devices. Of the wide range of readily available cold cathode materials, silicon (Si) tip arrays have attracted much attention owing to their compatible fabrication process with advanced integrated-circuit technology. However, an inherent high threshold electric field and poor emission stability limit their widespread use. In this dissertation, sputtered ferroelectric N-doped SrTiO3 thin films have been proposed as a beneficial surface modification on Si tip arrays to improve the field emission behavior. Systematic and extensive analysis has been carried out to further understand their dependence on sputtering parameters as well as increasing the understanding of the underlying field emission enhancement mechanisms.