Field emission energy distributions from silicon field emitters

The energy distribution of field-emitted electrons from single-tip n-type and p-type silicon field emitters has been analyzed. The energy distribution becomes broader and the peak position shifts to lower energy, as the gate voltage is increased. All distributions measured from an n-type single-tip silicon field emitter at several gate voltages have threshold energies at the Fermi level, E_F, on the other, the threshold energies from a p-type single-tip silicon field emitter are shifted to lower with the same distribution shape with increasing the gate voltage. These characteristics suggest that the field emission of silicon emitters involves electrons from interface states.