Effects of a base resistor on electron emission from a field emitter

Summary form only given, as follows. Field emitters have remained an important, high brightness electron source for display and for generation of coherent radiation. The rapid rise in the emitter current with voltage in these emitters leads to serious implications on the emitter stability (thermal, mechanical, and electrical), and an obvious way to improve the emitter stability is to add a series resistor to the emitter. However, the addition of a series resistor would result in a higher operating voltage, loss in efficiency, and much higher cost. In this paper, we use a simple model to provide a quantitative analysis of the effects of a base resistor on the voltage-current (V-I) characteristics of a single field emitter. Two features of the present work are noteworthy. First, we present a set of universal curves, from which the effects of a series resistor can immediately be determined once the Fowler-Nordheim coefficients A,B, and the gap spacing D are specified. Thus, these curves are applicable to a large class of field emitters. Second, our calculations take into account of the effects of space charge that is present in the gap. The relative importance of the space charge and of the series resistor will become apparent from these curves.