Dynamic behavior and instability of field emitter surfaces

The instability of field emission current arises from the atomic changes of the field emitter surface which can be induced by the sputtering of the secondary ions, by surface diffusion of containment atoms, and by the dynamical behavior of the emitter surface itself. There are three major causes of the instability: (1) the ion-bombardment- or ion-sputtering-induced surface changes, (2) contamination and surface diffusion of contaminant-induced emission current fluctuations, and (3) the intrinsic thermal instability of the field emitter surface itself. A few possible means of alleviating these problems are discussed