Experimental study of ultra-sharp silicon nano-tips

This paper presents two approaches on fabrication gated field emitter array from uniform single crystalline nano-tips. Investigation into electrical characterization of these silicon field emitters under an ultra high vacuum system is reported. Extensive experiment results were analyzed, in particular for the field emitter arrays with PECVD silicon dioxide as the insulating layer. Emission current fluctuation was significantly reduced after long time seasoning treatment. A low turn on voltage of 29 V was obtained. Emission current of 43.3 μA at a gate voltage of 92 V was available for a 10×10 field emitter array.