Emission characteristics of JFET-based field emitter arrays

Matrix-addressed field emitter display (FED) is the most attractive application of field emitter arrays (FEAs),because the display promises large viewing angle, full color capability with high resolution and high brightness, and low power consumption. The current stabilization and uniformity in field emission of FEA are in demand for applications to FED and other beam devices. Recently, a monolithic device with FEA and an active device such as metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) has been reported to stabilize and to control the emission current of FEA. The paper describes a new structure of FEA using JFET fabricated on the same wafer to control the emission current and discusses the controllability and the stability of emission current. The structure has an advantage in its reliable fabrication, where a fully self aligned process is applicable and no additional process is required except the B/sup +/ implantation compared with a normal Si-FEA fabricated by reactive ion etching and thermal oxidation technique.