P2–22: Stable emission characteristics for low work function titanium nitride transfer mold field emitter arrays in harsh environment

Low work function titanium nitride (TiN) Transfer Mold field emitter arrays (TiN-FEAs) have been fabricated by combining the Transfer Metal Mold fabrication method and the emitter material coating method to realize stable vacuum nanoelectronic devices and aerospace nanodevices for electric propulsion engines in the harsh environment such as strong plasma and radical atmospheres. The average tip radii and standard deviations of tip radii of TiN-FEA were 6.8 nm and 1.9 nm, respectively. Therefore, TiN-FEA exhibited an extreme sharpness and high uniformity. The turn-on field of TiN-FEAs was as low as 15.4 V/μm at the short distance of less than 10 μm between anode and emitter. Turn-on fields of Ni-FEAs showed the 4.0 times increase from 14.9 V/μm to 59.4 V/μm with the increase of the in-situ oxygen radical treatment time. However, turn-on fields of TiN-FEAs showed the 1.2 times increase from 15.4 V/μm to 18.8 V/μm. The fluctuation rate of Ni-FEA with or without radical treatment was as low as less than ±10% and ±4%. However, those of TiN-FEA with or without radical treatment were as low as less than ±5.1% and ±2.5%, respectively. Therefore, the TiN-FEAs exhibit stable field emission characteristics in harsh environments.