Mechanical single nanopillars and arrays as field emission devices

Author

Qin, Hua ; Kim, Hyun S. ; Park, Jonghoo ; Blick, Robert H.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

fYear

2008

fDate

6-9 Jan. 2008

Firstpage

899

Lastpage

902

Abstract

We present measurements on single and arrays of mechanically flexible nanopillars placed on thin membranes. These systems find applications as modulated sources for field emission devices. For single nanopillars we find that field emission can be modulated in the range of 10-500 MHz. Single nanopillar devices show Fowler-Nordheim type field emission increased by two orders of magnitude due to their mechanical motion. The wide scale emission from arrays of nanopillars is investigated with the help of a microchannel-plate (MCP) electron multiplier with fluorescence phosphor screen. A stable overall field emission current and microscopic variations of emission pattern with time are observed, where the later is most likely related to the mechanical instability of the nanopillar-on-membrane structure.

Keywords

electron multipliers; field emission; microchannel plates; micromechanical devices; nanotechnology; Fowler-Nordheim type field emission; field emission devices; fluorescence phosphor screen; mechanical single nanopillars; microchannel-plate electron multiplier; thin membranes; wide scale emission; Biomembranes; Cathodes; Electrodes; Electromagnetic heating; Frequency; Microwave devices; Nanoscale devices; Power lasers; Silicon; Surface emitting lasers;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, 2008. NEMS 2008. 3rd IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Sanya

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-1907-4

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-1908-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/NEMS.2008.4484468

Filename

4484468