TY - JOUR A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Bomke, Vitali A1 - Hausladen, Matthias A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Silicon Chip Field Emission Electron Source Fabricated by Laser Micromachining JF - Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B N2 - The components for a silicon chip electron source were fabricated by laser micromachining using pulsed laser ablation and wet chemical cleaning and etching dips. The field emission electron source consists of a silicon field emission cathode with 4 × 4 conical shaped emitters with a height of 250 μm and a tip radius of about 50 nm, a 50 μm thick laser-structured mica spacer, and a silicon grid electrode with a grid periodicity of 200 μm and a bar width of 50 μm. These three components are combined to a single chip with the size of 14 × 10 mm2 and the thickness of 1 mm to form the electron source. Several of these devices were characterized in ultrahigh vacuum. Onset voltages of about 165 V and cathode currents of about 15 μA for voltages lower than 350 V were observed. Operating the electron source with an anode voltage of 500 V and an extraction grid voltage of 300 V yielded a cathode current of 4.5 μA ± 8.9%, an anode current of 4.0 μA ± 9.6%, and a corresponding grid transmittance of 89%. Regulating the anode current by the extraction grid voltage, an extremely stable anode current of 5.0 μA ± 0.017% was observed. A long-term measurement over 120 h was performed, and no significant degradation or failure was observed. KW - Ultra-high vacuum KW - Field emitter arrays KW - Etching KW - Electrical properties and parameters KW - Electron sources KW - Laser ablation KW - Laser micromachining KW - Silicon chip KW - Triodes Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5134872 VL - 38 IS - 1 PB - AIP Publishing ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Serbun, Pavel A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Müller, Günter A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - High aspect ratio silicon tip cathodes for application in field emission electron sources T2 - 2014 27th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 6-10 July 2014, Engelberg, Switzerland N2 - Precisely aligned arrays of sharp tip structures on top of elongated pillars were realized by using an improved fabrication process including an additional inductively-coupled-plasma reactive-ion etching step. Arrays of n-type and p-type silicon with 271 tips have been fabricated and investigated. Those structures have a total height of 5–6 µm and apex radii less than 20nm. Integral field emission measurements of the arrays yielded low onset-fields in the range of 8–12V=µm and field enhancement factors between 300 and 700. The I-E curves of n-type structures showed the usual Fowler-Nordheim behaviour, whereas p-type structures revealed a significant saturation region due to the limited number of electrons in the conduction band and a further carrier depletion effect caused by the pillar. The maximum integral current in the saturation region was 150 nA at fields above 30V=µm. An excellent stability of the emission current of less than ± 2% fluctuation was observed in the saturation region. For n-type Si a maximum integral current of 10 µA at 24V=µm and an average current stability with a fluctuation of ± 50% were measured. KW - Current measurement KW - Etching KW - FABRICATION KW - field emission KW - field emitter array KW - GEOMETRY KW - Iron KW - Sensor arrays KW - silicon KW - silicon tip Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2014.6894824 SP - 222 EP - 223 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Müller, F. A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Serbun, Pavel A1 - Müller, Günter T1 - Enhanced field emission from p-doped black silicon on pillar structures T2 - 2015 28th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 13-17 July 2015, Guangzhou, China N2 - Aligned square arrays of black silicon (b-Si) on top of pillars were fabricated on p-type silicon substrate by a deep-etching step combined with a b-Si process. Two 10×10 arrays with pillar heights of 8 μm and 20 μm and one b-Si reference sample without pillars were investigated. Integral field emission (FE) measurements of the arrays yielded rather low onset-fields between 6.4 V/μm and 13.5 V/μm and field enhancement factors between 430 and 800. The I-V curves showed typical Fowler-Nordheim behavior for low fields, whereas a saturation region was observed at higher fields. The maximum integral current in the saturation region was 8 μA at a field of 20 V/μm. The stability of the emission current was investigated over 3 hours and revealed moderate fluctuations of ± 8% in the saturation region. Voltage scans showed well-aligned FE from nearly all pillars. KW - black silicon KW - CATHODES KW - Current measurement KW - Etching KW - FABRICATION KW - field emission KW - field emitter array KW - Iron KW - silicon KW - Vacuum technology Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2015.7225547 SP - 104 EP - 105 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Mecani, Mirgen A1 - Huang, Yifeng A1 - She, Juncong A1 - Schreiner, Rupert ED - Tiginyanu (Ed.), Ion M. T1 - Field emission properties of ring-shaped Si ridges with DLC coating T2 - Proc. SPIE 10248, Nanotechnology VIII, 102480H (30 May 2017) N2 - We report on the fabrication and the emission characterization of single ring-shaped Si ridges with a coating of diamond-like carbon (DLC). The reactive ion etching and the subsequent inductively coupled plasma step were adjusted to realize ring-shaped Si ridges with a height of 7.5 μm respectively 15 μm and an apex radius of 20 – 25 nm. The samples were coated with a DLC layer (thickness ≈ 2 – 5 nm) by a filtered cathodic vacuum arc deposition system in order to lower the work function of the emitter and to improve the field emission characteristics. The field emission characterizations were done in diode configuration with cathode and anode separated by a 50 μm thick mica spacer. A higher emission current was carried out for the ring-shaped Si ridge in comparison to the point-shaped Si tips due to the increased emission area. The highest emission current of 0.22 μA at 1000 V was measured on a DLC-coated sample with the highest aspect ratio. No degradation of the emission current was observed in the plateau regime during a measurement period of 6 h. Finally, no decreasing performance of the field emission properties was found due to changes in the geometry or destructions. KW - Etching KW - Scanning electron microscopy KW - Silicon carbide KW - Carbon KW - Mica KW - Oxides Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2265627 VL - 102480H PB - Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) ER -