Electron emission from thin film ferroelectric cathodes

The purpose of this work is to systematically investigate the emission properties of thin film ferroelectric (FE) cathodes. By using a "sol-gel" method and standard microelectronic technologies, successful thin film cathodes have been made from three different FE materials: PLZT 2/95/5 (0.2 /spl mu/m in thickness), PNZT 4/20/80 (0.8 /spl mu/m), and PLZT 25/10/90 (0.2 /spl mu/m). For each material, three different top electrode strip patterns of width 1.5 /spl mu/m, 3 /spl mu/m, and 10 /spl mu/m were designed and fabricated. Repeatable emission around 10 /spl mu/A/cm/sup 2/ has been detected for PNZT cathodes driven in the pulsed mode. Strong but inconsistent emission up to 20 mA/cm2 has been measured for higher switch voltages. The dependence of emission properties on material, strip widths, switch voltages, and extraction voltages has been recorded and analyzed. Mechanisms of the emission phenomena have also been investigated.