The specific features of field emission from submicron cathode surface areas at high current densities

Nanometer structures, located on a field cathode´s surface, permit one to ensure field emission current densities exceeding 10/sup 9/ A/cm/sup 2/. The specificity of field emission of such small objects (microtips on the cathode´s surface or local adsorbate spots of material with low electron work function) consists in intensive heat transfer from the emitting area to the base emitter inner space of sufficiently greater dimension. The aims of the presented work are: experimental and theoretical researches of super-small emitters´ stability in strong electric fields and determination of the limiting current density values that can be achieved without change of emission characteristics.