Emission stability and high current performance of diamond-coated Si emitters

Silicon field emitters were coated with polycrystalline diamond using hot-filament CVD technique. Maximum emission currents of 300-500 /spl mu/A were achieved from single-tip emitters. Current fluctuations have been found to be between 3 and 16%. Temporal dependence of emission current was studied during 36 h at initial current of 100 /spl mu/A. At the end of the testing 20%-decrease of the current took place. Diamond coated silicon emitters demonstrated favourable emission properties, as compared with uncoated silicon emitters.