A New Slit-Type Vacuum-Channel Transistor

A new vacuum-channel transistor with a carbon nanotube cathode and nanometer-scale channel length-called a slit-type vacuum-channel transistor is proposed and investigated. The suggested device structure features distinguishable cutoff, linear, and saturation regions with a negligible gate leakage current. Its channel length is almost the same as the mean free path of carriers in air, which suggests that the device can operate not only in vacuum but also in air, without any performance degradation. Because of its geometrical characteristics, it is possible for this device to be operated when the anode bias is almost the same as the gate bias with negligible oxide leakage. Therefore, the device can be used as an elemental device component in digital integrated circuits.