Transfer mold field emitter arrays by intrinsic sharpening

Sharp, uniform and low operation voltage field emitter arrays have been developed by an intrinsic sharpening technique in the transfer mold emitter fabrication method to realize high efficiency and high reliability devices. As thermally oxidized SiO/sub 2/ insulator layer thickness is increased from 0.1 /spl mu/m to 0.7 /spl mu/m, the emitter tip angle is decreased from 60/spl deg/ to 25/spl deg/, because of the sharpening effect on the tips. After 90 minutes of thermal oxidation, the emitter tip aspect ratio is three times as high as the initial aspect ratio. This sharpening technique produces no damage to the emitters and provides nanometer-sharpness, superior uniformity of field emitter arrays, high emitter-to-gate resistance, and easiness of selecting emitter materials.