Electron emission characteristics of Al–AlN granular films

An electron conduction emitter of Al–AlN granular films was proposed for surface conduction electron emission device in this paper. The Al–AlN granular films with thickness of 30 nm were prepared between two co-planar electrodes with gap of 10 μm by magnetron sputtering. After electroforming the Al–AlN granular films, the films’ structure could be recovered by applying the periodic device voltage (Vf). Stable and uniform electron emission was observed with turn-on voltage of 5.3 V and threshold voltage of 9 V. The emitter emission current (Ie) of 4.84 μA for 36 cells was obtained with the anode voltage of 2.5 kV and the device voltage of 12 V. In addition, Fowler–Nordheim plots for Ie–Vf properties showed that the electron emission mechanism should be field emission.