TY - CHAP A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Stable and low noise field emission from single p-type Si-tips T2 - International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 31st, 2018, Kyoto, Japan N2 - Single gated p-type Si-tips with two different tip radii were fabricated. An emission current of 2.40 μA was measured for the sharp-edged tip at a voltage of 170 V. In contrast, a stable and reproducible emission behavior was observed with an increased tip radius resulting in a pronounced saturation region between 90 V and 150 V, but merely an emission current of 0.55 μA at 150 V. More remarkable is the stable emission behavior with fluctuation of ± 4 % during a measurement period of 30 minutes. The integral emission current in a homogeneous tip array (16 emitters) showed nearly the same I-V characteristics compared to the single tip and is therefore, most dominated by only a stable single tip in the array. KW - field emission KW - p-type Si-tips KW - gate-electrode KW - emission stability KW - low current fluctuations Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2018.8520018 PB - IEEE ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Dams, Florian T1 - Compact and Energy-Efficient Field Emission Cathodes for Sensor Applications JF - Advanced Materials Research N2 - We report on miniaturized silicon field emitter arrays for the application in compact and energy-saving vacuum-microelectronic devices, e.g. sensors or x-ray tubes. Since standard silicon semiconductor technology has been used for the fabrication, they may be easily integrated with other silicon based circuits and devices on the same chip. The silicon tip geometry and the operating conditions were optimized in order to obtain highly uniform and stable electron field emission from large area cathode arrays. A series of uniform hexagonal tip arrays containing each 547 tips were fabricated and characterized. The electron emission properties of both individual tips as well as of complete emitter arrays were investigated. A saturation level in the voltage-current characteristics was found, which can be explained by the limitation of the supply of electrons due to the p-type silicon wafer material. When operating the arrays in the current saturation regime at an emission current of ~ 1 nA per tip, a highly stable and low noise emission can be observed. KW - field emission KW - Si-Tip Cathodes KW - Vacuum Sensors Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.1024.372 VL - 1024 SP - 372 EP - 375 PB - Scientific.net ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Kleshch, Victor I. A1 - Serbun, Pavel A1 - Orekhov, Anton A1 - Lützenkirchen-Hecht, Dirk A1 - Obraztsov, Alexander N. A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Lutzenkirchen-Hecht, Dirk T1 - Field emission properties of p-type silicon tips decorated with tungsten nanoparticles T2 - 2017 30th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 10-14 July 2017, Regensburg, Germany N2 - An array of conical-shaped p-type silicon tips was fabricated by using reactive ion etching and sharpening oxidation. The apex of each tip was decorated by a tungsten hemispherical nanoparticle. Field emission properties of the tips were measured by a tungsten-needle anode positioned above the tip apex. Tips decorated with tungsten nanoparticles demonstrated a smaller saturation region in current-voltage characteristics compared to the pristine tips. An emission activation process, which consisted in sudden current increase at certain value of applied voltage, was observed for the decorated silicon tips. This behavior was explained by the formation of vertical protrusions extending from the metal particles revealed by scanning electron microscopy after field emission experiments. KW - Current measurement KW - field emission KW - Ions KW - Iron KW - metal nanoparticles KW - nanoparticles KW - p-type silicon KW - Scanning electron microscopy KW - silicon KW - Tungsten Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2017.8051580 SP - 138 EP - 139 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Knapp, Wolfram A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Lindner, Matthias A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Investigations of the transition from field electron emission to stable plasma discharge in a micro electron source at vacuum pressure T2 - 2017 30th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 10-14 July 2017, Regensburg, Germany N2 - We report on the transition from field electron emission to plasma discharges. During an experiment with a miniaturized field emission electron source a plasma discharge accompanied by a luminous effect was observed. A novel graphical evaluation method was used to interpret and to compare the observed phenomenon. KW - CATHODES KW - Discharges (electric) KW - electron source KW - electron sources KW - Fault location KW - field emission KW - field emission measurement KW - glow discharge KW - Glow discharges KW - micro arc KW - plasma discharge KW - Plasmas KW - Si-tip cathode Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2017.8051594 SP - 166 EP - 167 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Fabrication process of silicon-tip-arrays for field emission applications T2 - 24th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 2011 : 18 - 22 July 2011, Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal, Germany N2 - A micromachined process to assemble homogeneous and reproducible tip arrays for field emission applications is developed and characterized. As substrate material p- as well as n-doped silicon is used. Lateral position of the tips is defined by structuring silicon dioxide to discs in a photolithographic process. Vertical structure of the tips is defined by a combination of RIE dry etching with controlled anisotropy and thermally oxidization of silicon in order to sharpen the tips. Hence field emitter arrays (FEAs) can be assembled both as bare and coated cathodes. To assemble field emission diodes, this fabrication process allows placing a metal anode in a micrometer order distance to the tips by a self-aligning procedure. The anode is placed in an evaporation process whereupon sharpening oxide is used as isolator between anode and cathode. Electrical characterization of the cathodes showed very good homogeneity, well alignment and stability over time of emission current from all tips (i.e. 100% efficiency). KW - elemental semiconductors KW - etching KW - fabrication KW - field emission KW - field emitter arrays KW - homogeneity KW - micromachining KW - oxidation, silicon KW - silicon technology Y1 - 2011 UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6004556?arnumber=6004556 SN - 978-3-00-035081-8 SN - 978-1-4577-1243-2 SN - 2380-6311 SN - 2164-2370 SP - 49 EP - 50 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Hausladen, Matthias A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Düsberg, Felix A1 - Pahlke, Andreas A1 - Shamonin (Chamonine), Mikhail A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Field emission current investigation of p-type and metallized silicon emitters in the frequency domain T2 - International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 31st, 2018, Kyoto, Japan N2 - We investigated two different field emitter arrays consisting of 10×10 p-type and 10×10 undoped Au-coated high aspect ratio silicon tips. The I-V characterization of the p-type sample showed a pronounced saturation for voltages higher than 500 V and a maximum emission current of 39 nA. The metallized sample revealed a FN-like emission up to several μA. The metallized and the p-type sample operating below the saturation region showed high current fluctuations of ±16%. Whereas, the metallized sample with current regulation and the p-type sample in the saturation yielded a current stability of ±0.4% and ±0.3%, respectively. Investigations in the frequency domain revealed the for field emission typical 1/f-noise. By operating in the saturation region (p-type sample) or using an emission current regulation (metallized sample) the noise level was reduced by at least 20 dB. Finally, the p-type sample was illuminated by a light emitting diode to increase and modulate the emission current in the saturation region. The emission current was increased by a factor of 3.7 to 145 nA. With this configuration we emulated an unstable emission behavior and evaluated the performance of our emission current regulation circuit. KW - field emission KW - field emitter array KW - silicon tip KW - current fluctuation KW - current stability KW - field emission noise Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2018.8520127 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Field emission from three-dimensional epitaxial grown GaN-microrods T2 - 29th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 2016, 11-15 July, Vancouver, BC, Canada N2 - A novel three-dimensional epitaxial technique allows on patterned substrates the realization of gallium nitride pillars, also known as nano- and microrods. The typical dimensions of the microrods are in the range of one micron for the radius of the hexagonal footprint and about 10 μm in height. The microrods consist of a semiconductor heterostructure with an n GaN core, a n-GaN shell, a p GaN shell and an intermediate quantum well layer. The field emission properties were investigated in diode configuration by integral field emission measurements in a vacuum chamber at pressures around 10 -9 mbar. The spacer was mica with a thickness of 50 μm. A metallized fine-meshed nitride grid (or a metallized Si-grid) was used as anode. A current of about 1 μA at a voltage of 1250 V (1750 V) was measured. An onset field of about 12.5 MV/m (20 MV/m) and field enhancement factors in the range of 200 to 500 (150 to 300) were found. The investigation with the fine-meshed grid showed an expected pronounced saturation region. KW - field emission KW - GaN KW - LED Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2016.7551477 SN - 2380-6311 SP - 87 EP - 88 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Field emission from black silicon structures with integrated gate electrode T2 - 29th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 2016, 11-15 July, Vancouver, BC, Canada N2 - Black silicon structures with integrated gate electrode were realized by using an improved fabrication process. An enhanced insulation layer was achieved by a combination of dry and wet oxidation, and a gold layer was evaporated as gate electrode. The black silicon structures were prepared with a RIE/ICP etching process at room temperature. Arrays of 16 and 100 apertures with buried p-doped black silicon whiskers have been fabricated. These structures have an emitter height of approximately 1.5 μm with tip radii between 5 nm and 30 nm. The whiskers are surrounded by the gate electrode in a distance of 1.5 μm. Integral field emission measurements yielded an onset voltage of 92 V for 16 apertures and 60 V for 100 apertures for an emission current of 1 nA. Maximum emission currents up to 0.2 μA were observed for the array with 100 apertures at a cathode voltage of 200 V. Stability measurements showed a current fluctuation of ± 21% at a mean value of the emission current of 12 nA over a period of 30 minutes for 16 apertures with b-Si whiskers. KW - field emission KW - black silicon KW - integrated gate electrode Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2016.7551532 SN - 2380-6311 SP - 219 EP - 220 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Microrods and microlines by three-dimensional epitaxially grown GaN for field emission cathodes T2 - International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 30th, 2017, Regensburg N2 - The three-dimensional epitaxial technique allows the realization of gallium nitride lines in addition to the rods. To optimize the properties of GaN-based field emission cathodes further investigations and an improvement of the epitaxial process were performed. The microrods and microlines consist of a one-order higher n-doped gallium nitride in comparison to the gallium nitride layer on the sapphire substrate. The typical height of the microrods and -lines is about 5 μm. The field emission properties of these structures were investigated in diode configuration by integral field emission measurements at pressures below 10 -9 mbar. For the microrods (microlines) a voltage of 1100 V (2000 V) was measured for a field emission current of about 0.5 μA with an onset field of about 12 MV/m (24 MV/m). Furthermore, the field enhancement factors for microrods and -lines are in the range of 300 and 200, respectively. KW - field emission KW - GaN KW - LED KW - Gallium nitride KW - Epitaxial growth Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2017.8051576 SP - 130 EP - 131 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Huang, Yifeng A1 - She, Juncong T1 - Gated p-Si field emission cathode applied in an ionization vacuum gauge T2 - 29th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 2016, 11-15 July, Vancouver, BC, Canada N2 - A commercial Bayard-Alpert ionization vacuum gauge was equipped with a field emission electron source based on a cathode consisting of an array of 16 gated, p-doped, and DLC-coated Si-tips and characterized. An anode current of about 1.3 μA led to an ion current of 7 fA at 3×10 -7 mbar and 0.8 pA at 4×10 -5 mbar. Whereas at pressures higher than 4×10 -5 mbar the emission current of the electron source decreased, the ratio of ion and anode current remained linear. A nearly constant sensitivity of ~ 17 mbar -1 of the ionization vacuum gauge within the investigated pressure range was depicted. KW - field emission KW - field emitter array KW - Si KW - DLC KW - electron source KW - ionization vacuum gauge Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2016.7551500 SN - 2380-6311 SP - 145 EP - 146 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Benzocyclobutene as a novel integrated spacer material in a field emission electron source T2 - International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 30th, 2017, Regensburg N2 - For the realization of a miniaturized field emission electron source we tested benzocyclobutene (BCB) as a new spacer material between cathode and anode. We fabricated black silicon emitters and characterized the emission behavior with an integrated 5 μm thin and large-area spacer of BCB. The integrated BCB layer allows the realization of a compact electron source with only two components consisting of a cathode with BCB and a grid. The comparison with other spacer materials like polyimide (25 μm thickness) or mica (50 μm thickness) revealed for the cathode with BCB a significantly reduced operational voltage of 240 V for a field emission current of 1 μA. KW - field emission KW - benzocyclobutene KW - integrated spacer KW - electron source KW - black silicon Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2017.8051605 SP - 192 EP - 193 PB - IEEE 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 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Muller, F. A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Serbun, Pavel A1 - Müller, Günter T1 - Comparison of integral and local field-emission properties of Mo-coated p-Si tip arrays T2 - 2015 28th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 13-17 July 2015, Guangzhou, China N2 - Silicon tip arrays were fabricated by means of reactive ion etching followed by oxidation for final sharpening and molybdenum thin film coating. The field-emission (FE) properties of these Mo-coated p-Si tip arrays were systemically investigated by different measurement techniques. Integral measurements in diode configuration yielded a turn-on field (for 1 nA) of 22 V/μm and nearly stable FE currents up to 6.6 μA at 38 V/μm. The effective field enhancements factor extracted from the FN plots is about 180. Detailed investigations of these FE arrays were also performed by means of field emission scanning microscopy combined with electron microscopy. A rather limited efficiency of the tips (50% at 1500 V) and FE homogeneity (180 nA at 700 V) might be correlated with the varying morphology of the tips and the presence of oxides. Local I-V measurements of selected single tips revealed both activation and deactivation effects, which finally resulted in nearly reproducible I-V curves. Current stability measurements at a constant voltage showed rather large fluctuations (0.1-1 μA) of the FE current, which could be reduced up to 1.7% by using of a PID-regulated voltage source. SEM images showed unchanged tip shape after the current processing. KW - CATHODES KW - Coatings KW - Current measurement KW - field emission KW - Iron KW - Mo-coated KW - p-Si tip KW - Scanning electron microscopy KW - silicon KW - tip arrays KW - Vacuum technology Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2015.7225579 SP - 192 EP - 193 PB - IEEE ER -