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 - JOUR A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Navitski, Aliaksandr A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Serbun, Pavel A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Müller, Günter A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Homogeneous Field Emission Cathodes With Precisely Adjustable Geometry Fabricated by Silicon Technology JF - IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices N2 - Silicon-based cathodes with precisely aligned field emitter arrays of sharp tips applicable for miniaturized electron sources were successfully fabricated and characterized. This was made possible by an improved fabrication process using wet thermal oxidation, wet etching, and reactive-ion etching steps with adjustable anisotropy. As substrate materials, both p-doped silicon and n-doped silicon were used. The cathode chips contain about 3 × 10 5 Si tips/cm 2 in a triangular array with tip heights of 2.5 μm, tip radii of less than 30 nm, and spacing of 20 μm. Well-aligned field emission (FE) and excellent homogeneity from all tips (i.e., 100% efficiency) and maximum stable currents of typically 0.1 μA (0.6 μA) for p (n)-type Si were reproducibly achieved. The current-voltage characteristics of the p-Si tips exhibit the expected saturation at around 10 nA with around ten times better current stability, whereas the n-Si tips show the usual Fowler-Nordheim behavior. Additional coating of the Si tips with 5-nm Cr and 10-nm Au layers resulted in improved stability and at least five times higher average FE current limits (about 3 μA) at about 30% higher operation voltage. KW - cathodes KW - electron field emission KW - elemental semiconductors KW - Field emission (FE) cathodes KW - field emitter array (FEA) KW - miniaturized electron sources KW - oxidation KW - silicon KW - silicon tips KW - sputter etching Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2012.2206598 SN - 0018-9383 SN - 1557-9646 VL - 59 IS - 10 SP - 2832 EP - 2837 PB - IEEE ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Berndt, Dominik A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Sensitivity of thermal conductivity vacuum gauges for constant current and constant temperature operation JF - Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Nanotechnology and Microelectronics N2 - To optimize the measurement range of thermal conductivity vacuum gauges, an expression for the sensitivity is required that takes into account all geometrical, material-specific, and operating parameters. Therefore, equations of the sensor output signal as a function of the pressure for the constant current and the constant temperature mode have been developed analytically. Based on these equations, the sensitivity of the vacuum gauge and its influencing parameters was investigated and discussed. For comparable conditions, the constant temperature operation shows a significantly higher sensitivity for high pressures, while the constant current operation shows higher sensitivity at low pressures. The sensitivity in both the constant current and the constant temperature mode depends on the ratio of the filament surface area and the parasitic thermal conductance. In addition, for the constant current operation, the sensitivity also depends on the current value and the temperature coefficient of the filament resistor. For the constant temperature operation, the sensitivity additionally depends on the distance of the filament and the reference plane. However, to extend the measurement range of a thermal conductivity vacuum gauge toward low pressures, a reduction of the parasitic thermal conductance is mandatory for both the constant current and the constant temperature mode. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0001964 VL - 40 IS - 5 PB - AIP Publishing ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Theoretical investigations into the field enhancement factor of silicon structures T2 - 25th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC) - Jeju, Korea (South), 09.- 13.07.2012 N2 - In order to optimize our field-emitting silicon structures, the influence of geometric parameters like aspect ratio, aperture angle and curvature on the field enhancement factor was investigated by finite element simulations. A universal geometric model consisting of a rounded triangle and elliptic curvatures was taken for modeling a variety of different silicon tip as well as ridge structures. Whereas, a high dependency of the field enhancement on the aperture angle was found, the simulations show that the elliptic curvature affects the field enhancement only marginal. KW - elemental semiconductors KW - field emitter arrays KW - field enhancement factor KW - finite element analysis KW - silicon KW - silicon field emitter Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-1-4673-1984-3 SN - 978-1-4673-1983-6 SN - 978-1-4673-1982-9 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2012.6316886 SN - 2380-6311 SN - 2164-2370 PB - IEEE CY - Piscataway, N.J. ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Düsberg, Felix A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Hofmann, Martin A1 - Pahlke, Andreas A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Regulation of the Transmitted Electron Flux in a Field-Emission Electron Source Demonstrated on Si Nanowhisker Cathodes JF - IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices N2 - We report on a method to stabilize the transmitted electron flux in a field-emission electron source using an external regulation circuit. The electron source was realized with an array of silicon (Si) nanowhiskers on the top of elongated pillar structures, a mica spacer, and an extraction grid made of Si. As for most applications, the emitted electron current from the cathode is not as crucial as the transmitted electron flux through the extraction grid toward the anode. We investigated a method which allows the regulation directly by the emitted electron flux and not merely on the cathode current. By using this method, we were able to stabilize the emitted electron flux of our electron source down to values below 1%. Simultaneously, it was shown that there is the possibility to stabilize the influencing value in the real application as well. The effectiveness of this method was demonstrated successfully with an X-ray source setup. The measured X-ray photon count rate was stabilized to a standard deviation of 0.30% at a pressure of 1 × 10 -7 mbar. Even in harsh environment of 2 × 10 -5 mbar, a stabilization of the X-ray photon count rate down to a value of 0.63% was achieved. KW - Cathodes KW - Nanostructured devices KW - Current measurement KW - Photonics KW - Electron sources KW - Emissions KW - Voltage measurement Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/TED.2017.2763239 SN - 5128-5133 VL - 64 IS - 12 PB - IEEE ER - 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 - JOUR A1 - Breuer, Janis A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Düsberg, Felix A1 - Pahlke, Andreas A1 - Edler, Simon A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Serbun, Pavel A1 - Lützenkirchen-Hecht, Dirk T1 - Extraction of the current distribution out of saturated integral measurement data of p-type silicon field emitter arrays JF - Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B N2 - At the moment, only complicated techniques are known for the determination of array properties of field emitter arrays such as the number of active tips, the current distribution, or the individual tip radii. In this work, a method for extracting these parameters from integral measurement data is presented. A model describing the characteristics of a single emitter, including the saturation as a function of the applied voltage and the emitter radius, is developed. It is shown that experimental data of field emitter arrays can be represented as the sum of these functions and the characteristic parameters can be fitted to field emission data of an array. Using this method, the values of the radii as well as the parameters of distribution models can be determined directly. Analysis of experimental data from p-type Si emitter arrays shows that only 1–2% of the tips contribute significantly. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5035189 VL - 36 IS - 5 PB - AIP Publishing ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Edler, Simon A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Breuer, Janis A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Düsberg, Felix A1 - Hofmann, Martin A1 - Jakšič, Jasna A1 - Pahlke, Andreas A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Influence of adsorbates on the performance of a field emitter array in a high voltage triode setup JF - Journal of Applied Physics N2 - In the present work, black-silicon field emitter arrays (FEAs) are investigated regarding the influence of residual gas pressure on the characteristics and lifetime in the high voltage triode setup. Current-voltage-characteristics at different pressure levels are recorded and show a decreasing emission current with rising pressure. This decrease can be explained by an increase of the work function and charging of the emitter surface caused by adsorbates. The emission current can be restored to its initial value by heating of the FEA up to 110 °C during active emission. With this regeneration procedure, an extended lifetime from about 20 h to 440 h at a residual gas pressure of 10−5 mbar is achieved. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4987134 VL - 122 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Serbun, Pavel A1 - Müller, Günter A1 - Düsberg, Felix A1 - Hofmann, Martin A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Pahlke, Andreas T1 - Field emission properties of p-type black silicon on pillar structures JF - Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B N2 - Arrays of black silicon field emission pillar structures were fabricated on p-type silicon substrates. Two types of samples with the same number of pillars (arrays of 10 × 10) but different pillar heights (8 and 20 μm) were prepared as well as a black silicon reference sample without pillars. The field emission properties of these cathodes were investigated both by means of integral current-voltage measurements and by field emission scanning microscopy. Samples with a pillar height of 20 μm revealed onset fields as low as 6.4 V/μm, field enhancement factors up to 800, and emission currents up to 8 μA at an applied field of 20 V/μm. Due to the p-type material, a saturation of the emission current for fields above 11 V/μm was observed. This saturation leads to a stable operation with a current fluctuation of less than ±8%. It was found that samples with a pillar height of 20 μm showed improved emission characteristics compared to samples with a pillar height of 8 μm or without pillars. The voltage maps revealed an increased emission homogeneity after a “burn-in” sequence of the sample. The current map showed that a few of the pillars dominate the emission. Integral current stability measurements were performed under different vacuum pressures, in order to investigate altered emission behavior and a potential degradation of the emitters. At pressures above 10−6 mbar, the sample starts to degrade irreversibly. Nevertheless, even after a harsh treatment over 30 min at 5 × 10−5 mbar and at an applied field of 23 V/μm, the cathode was still operating, and did not fail during further operation over 20 h at 5 × 10−8 mbar and at an applied field of 28 V/μm. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4943919 VL - 34 IS - 2 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Düsberg, Felix A1 - Hofmann, Martin A1 - Pahlke, Andreas A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Serbun, Pavel A1 - Lützenkirchen-Hecht, Dirk A1 - Müller, Günter T1 - Extraction of the characteristics of current-limiting elements from field emission measurement data JF - Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B N2 - In this contribution, the authors will present an algorithm to extract the characteristics of nonideal field emission circuit elements from saturation-limited field emission measurement data. The method for calculating the voltage drop on current-limiting circuit elements is based on circuit theory as well as Newton's method. Since the only assumption the authors make on the current-limiting circuit is a connection in series, this method is applicable to most field emission data showing saturation. To be able to determine the significance of any parameter output, the uncertainties of data and extracted parameters as well as the parameter correlations are fully taken into account throughout the algorithm. N-type silicon samples with varying external serial resistors are analyzed. All results show a good agreement to the nominal resistor values. Additionally, several p-type samples are analyzed, showing a diodelike behavior. The extracted current-limiting characteristics of the p-type samples are in good agreement with a pn-junction model. The stability of the emission current of the p-type samples is measured by constant voltage measurements and compared to the extracted current-limiting characteristics. The application of the algorithm to measurement data shows that the given algorithm is a valuable tool to analyze field emission measurement data influenced by nonemissive processes. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4971768 VL - 35 IS - 2 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 - JOUR A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Investigations on the long-term performance of gated p-type silicon tip arrays with reproducible and stable field emission behavior JF - Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B N2 - The authors report on the fabrication and characterization of p-type Si tip arrays with an integrated gate electrode for applications as field emission electron sources. After the reactive ion etching of the emitters, the combined thermal dry and wet oxidation was used for both the sharpening of the emitters and for the realization of an enhanced insulation layer. Au was evaporated in a self-aligned process as gate electrode. Arrays of 16 Si tips were fabricated with tip heights of about 3 μm and tip radii of about 20 nm with integrated gate electrode concentrically positioned ≈2 μm below the tip apex. Integral measurements with an additional anode showed improved field emission properties with a reproducible and stable emission behavior. A fast activation of the tips, low onset voltages of about 30 V, and moderate field emission currents up to 0.55 μA were noticed. The field emission parameters were calculated using the Fowler–Nordheim characteristics. A pronounced saturation regime was observed, and current fluctuations of less than ±1% were investigated for 30 min. Long-term measurements were carried out for a period of more than 8 h. In the first 6 h of operation, the authors observed a drift of the emission current from 0.35 to 0.55 μA caused by an increased emission surface. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4972519 VL - 35 IS - 1 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 - 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 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Düsberg, Felix A1 - Hofmann, Martin A1 - Pahlke, Andreas A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Extraction of the characteristics of limiting elements from field emission measurement data T2 - 29th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 2016, 11-15 July, Vancouver, BC, Canada N2 - In this contribution we will present an algorithm to extract the characteristics of non-Fowler-Nordheim (FN) circuit elements from saturation limited field emission (FE) measurement data. The method for calculating the voltage drop on limiting circuit elements is based on circuit theory as well as Newton's method. Since no assumption on the limiting circuit is made, this method is applicable to any FE data showing saturation. To be able to determine the significance of any parameter output, the uncertainties of data and extracted parameters are fully taken into account throughout the algorithm. External serial resistors and a limiting p-doped substrate are analyzed, where the latter shows a diode-like behavior. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2016.7551474 SN - 2380-6311 SP - 81 EP - 82 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 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Düsberg, Felix A1 - Hofmann, Martin A1 - Pahlke, Andreas A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Control of the electron source current T2 - International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 30th, 2017, Regensburg N2 - A control circuit to stabilize the flux of electrons transmitted through an extractor electrode is presented. By controlling the emission current a fluctuation with a standard deviation of 0.015% is observed. However, the achievable stability of the transmitted electron current is limited due to a variation of the extraction grid current ratio showing a standard deviation of 4.33%. By regulating the difference of the emission current and the extraction grid current an improved stability of the transmitted electron current down to a standard deviation of 0.280% is observed. Even with operation at 2 × 10 -5 mbar a standard deviation of 0.558% is achieved. KW - Standards KW - Circuit stability KW - Power system stability KW - Current measurement KW - Voltage measurement KW - Electron sources KW - Stability analysis Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2017.8051550 SP - 66 EP - 67 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 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Light emitting diodes based on three-dimensional epitaxial grown crystalline GaN rods T2 - 7. MikroSystemTechnik Kongress "MEMS, Mikroelektronik, Systeme", 23.-25. Oktober 2017, München Y1 - 2017 SN - 978-3-8007-4491-6 SP - 131 EP - 134 PB - VDE-Verlag CY - München 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 - JOUR A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Düsberg, Felix A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Herdl, Florian A1 - Bergbreiter, Lukas A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Miyakawa, Natuski A1 - Eggert, Tobias A1 - Pahlke, Andreas A1 - Edler, Simon A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Hausladen, Matthias A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Vacuum-sealed field emission electron gun JF - Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B N2 - A compact vacuum-sealed field emission electron gun with an operation voltage below 5 kV is presented. With a 150 nm thick pyrolytic carbon membrane, a transmission of 40% at 5 kV is obtained. For more than 2500 h of continuous operation at an emission current of 100 nA, no significant increase (<50V ) and almost no degradation were found. From this measurement, a lifetime of more than 10 000 h at continuous operation with approximately a linear increase of the extraction voltage from about 545 V to about 730 V is predicted. This electron source enables application of field emitter arrays in poor vacuum or even ambient pressure. ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy under Project No. ZF4081502GM8. C.P., R.L., M.H., and R.S. were supported by Grant No. ZF4562901GM8. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5139316 VL - 38 IS - 2 PB - AIP Publishing ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Simulation and Fabrication of Silicon Field Emission Cathodes for Cold Electron Sources JF - Advanced Materials Research N2 - We report on the simulation and fabrication of nanostructured silicon surfaces for field emission (FE) applications, e.g. ionization sensors and x-ray tubes. For the design and optimization of field-emitting silicon structures, the influence of the geometric parameters like tip height, apex radius, aperture angle and curvature shape on the field enhancement factor was investigated by simulation using finite element method. A universal geometric model which describes the real geometry of our silicon structures sufficiently accurate was taken for modeling a variety of different silicon tip structures as well as ridge structures. While a high dependency of the field enhancement on the aspect ratio and the aperture angle was found, the simulations show that the elliptic curvature affects the field enhancement only marginally. Finally, an improved process for fabrication of such silicon structures on n-type as well as p-type substrate is described, using reactive ion etching with adjustable anisotropy, wet thermal oxidation and wet etching. KW - field emission cathodes KW - field enhancement factor KW - silicon field emitter Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.1024.48 VL - 1024 SP - 48 EP - 51 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Schreiner, Rupert T1 - Improvement of Homogenity and Aspect Ratio of Silicon Tips for Field Emission by Reactive-Ion Etching JF - Advances in materials science and engineering N2 - The homogeneity of emitters is very important for the performance of field emission (FE) devices. Reactive-ion etching (RIE) and oxidation have significant influences on the geometry of silicon tips. The RIE influences mainly the anisotropy of the emitters. Pressure has a strong impact on the anisotropic factor. Reducing the pressure results in a higher anisotropy, but the etch rate is also lower. A longer time of etching compensates this effect. Furthermore an improvement of homogeneity was observed. The impact of uprating is quite low for the anisotropic factor, but significant for the homogeneity. At low power the height and undercut of the emitters are more constant over the whole wafer. The oxidation itself is very homogeneous and has no observable effect on further variation of the homogeneity. This modified fabrication process allows solving the problem of inhomogeneity of previous field emission arrays. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/948708 VL - 2014 PB - Hindawi 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 -