Progress in microminiature thermionic vacuum tube devices

Author

Sadwick, Larry P. ; Zhang, Y.J. ; Schaeffer, D.J. ; Sandquist, G.M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Utah Univ., Salt Lake City, UT, USA

fYear

1994

fDate

11-14 Dec. 1994

Firstpage

779

Lastpage

782

Abstract

We report on the progress made in the fabrication and testing of microminiature thermionic vacuum (MTV) tube devices with ultra-small (i.e., micron-scale) dimensions. In particular, using low function material, we have been able to successfully fabricate reproducible and reliable MTV planar and vertical diodes with emission properties that obey Child´s Law for emission distances on the scale of approximately 2 /spl mu/m or greater. MTV technology is well suited for use in flat panel displays, electron beam writing sources and optics, nuclear instrumentation, aeronautical control instrumentation, space-based missions, geothermal and oil exploration, and other high temperature and harsh environment applications.<>

Keywords

diodes; thermionic tubes; vacuum microelectronics; 2 micron; Child´s Law; aeronautical control instrumentation; electron beam writing sources; emission properties; flat panel displays; geothermal exploration; harsh environment applications; low function materials; microminiature thermionic vacuum tube; micron-scale dimensions; nuclear instrumentation; planar diodes; space-based missions; thermionic emitters; vacuum microelectronics; vertical diodes; Diodes; Electron beams; Electron tubes; Fabrication; Flat panel displays; Instruments; Materials reliability; Space technology; Testing; Writing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Electron Devices Meeting, 1994. IEDM '94. Technical Digest., International

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA, USA

ISSN

0163-1918

Print_ISBN

0-7803-2111-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IEDM.1994.383308

Filename

383308