Title :
Arrayed silicon avalanche cathodes
Author :
Ea, Jung Y. ; Lalevic, B. ; Zhu, Dazhong ; Lu, Yicheng ; Zeto, Robert J.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ, USA
Abstract :
Silicon avalanche cathodes (SACs) consisting of a heavily doped shallow (less than 300 A) p-n junctions were fabricated, characterized, and used as electron sources in Si-based microvacuum diodes. The emission current was investigated as a function of diode reverse-biased voltage and external field. The field was provided by an anode placed approximately 1 mm above the cathode to simulate the field which would be obtained with a built-on-chip anode. Eighteen different shapes and sizes of SACs were tested. An emission current of 0.24 mu A and an emission efficiency (emission current/total diode current) of 2.1*10/sup -5/ were observed from the single bare Si p-n junction cold cathode.<>
Keywords :
cathodes; elemental semiconductors; p-n homojunctions; semiconductor technology; silicon; vacuum microelectronics; 0.021 percent; 0.24 muA; 1 mm; 300 A; Si avalanche cathodes; Si p-n junction cold cathode; Si-based microvacuum diodes; built-on-chip anode; diode reverse-biased voltage; electron sources; emission current; emission current/total diode current; emission efficiency; external field; heavily doped shallow p-n junction; Anodes; Cathodes; Current density; Electron emission; Electron sources; Optical scattering; P-n junctions; Semiconductor diodes; Silicon; Voltage;
Journal_Title :
Electron Device Letters, IEEE
