TY - CHAP A1 - Schreiner, Rupert A1 - Langer, Christoph A1 - Prommesberger, Christian A1 - Ławrowski, Robert Damian A1 - Dams, Florian A1 - Bachmann, Michael A1 - Düsberg, F. A1 - Hofmann, M. A1 - Pahlke, A. A1 - Serbun, Pavel A1 - Mingels, S. A1 - Müller, Günter T1 - Semiconductor field emission electron sources using a modular system concept for application in sensors and x-ray-sources T2 - 2015 28th International Vacuum Nanoelectronics Conference (IVNC), 13-17 July 2015, Guangzhou, China N2 - Semiconductor field emitters are suitable candidates for applications, which require a very stable field emission (FE) current and a high emission uniformity over the entire emission area. By using different materials and geometries, we are able to vary the FE characteristics within a wide range. Each specific application requires its own optimized design for the cathode as well as for the other parts of the FE electron source. To meet as many of these requirements as possible while using only a limited number of different prefabricated components, we established a modular system concept for our FE electron source. This allows the implementation of almost every cathode material. For first characterizations, we used gated p-type Si cathodes with 16 tips. We obtained stable FE currents of 0.4 μA for a grid-potential of 400 V and a gate potential of 100 V. Almost 100% of the electrons are emitted towards the grid-electrode. Parasitic leakage paths, as well as the electron emission towards the gate-electrode can be neglected. Approximately 10% of the electrons are transmitted through the grid and reach the external anode. This is in good agreement with the optical transmission through the grid-mesh. KW - Anodes KW - CATHODES KW - electron sources KW - GEOMETRY KW - Iron KW - Logic gates KW - semiconductor field emission KW - silicon Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/IVNC.2015.7225572 SP - 178 EP - 179 PB - IEEE ER -