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Electron sources based on silicon field emitter arrays, produced in processes based on semiconductor technology, are good candidates for a miniaturized X-ray source. A key parameter for this application is the stability of the X-ray photon flux and, thus, the emission current. In the present work we have investigated the influence of the residual gas pressure and a resistor in series on the emission stability of a high aspect ratio n-type silicon emitter array with hybrid extraction electrode. An increase of current fluctuations was found for pressures above 10-6 mbar. High resistances in series to the emitter array alter the emission characteristics, but greatly suppress spikes in the emission current and improve its stability. This, however, strongly depends on the bias point. The field enhancement factor is not affected by the resistance. In a long term measurement the emission current was found to be constant after an initial phase of degradation.
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.
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.
Extraction of the characteristics of current-limiting elements from field emission measurement data
(2017)
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.
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.
Forschungsbericht 2013
(2014)
We have constructed a new ultrahigh vacuum apparatus with a triode configuration for the systematic investigation of photo-induced field emission (PFE) from metallic or semiconducting cathodes. These are exposed to electric fields up to 400 MV∕m and laser irradiation by means of hole or mesh gates. Cathodes and gates are in situ exchangeable and adjustable with high precision to ensure a homogeneous extraction of electrons which are partially transmitted to the fixed electron spectrometer. Its hemispherical sector analyzer provides an energy resolution limit of 8 meV. The commissioning of the measurement system has been performed with a tungsten needle. Its temperature showed up in the high-energy tail of the electron spectrum, while its work function was derived from the spectral low-energy part combined with the integral current-voltage curve. First PFE measurements on B-doped Si-tip arrays yielded a small field emission current increase under green laser illumination. A shift and splitting of the energy spectra was observed which revealed different emission regimes as well as the photosensitivity of the cathode due to carrier excitation into the conduction band. For the full exploitation of the PFE system, a tunable laser over a wide eV-range is required.
The influence of laser illumination on the integral as well as on the energy-resolved electron currents from well-defined p-doped Si-tip arrays was investigated. First results have provided stable cathode currents between 100 nA and 500 μA in a field range of 2-20 V/μm. Green laser illumination resulted in an enhanced cathode current and an increased population of the conduction band which can be seen in the spectra. Charging of the cathode surface, however, leads to a shift and broadening of the spectra which complicate their analysis. Therefore, further experiments with a rotatable cathode and a varying number of tips as well as with a tunable laser are planned.
The electron current from field-emitting B-doped Si-tip arrays under illumination was studied. An improved cathode design with a patch of 271 tips yielded a reproducible cathode current between 0.2-2000 nA in the electric field range of 3.8-6.6 V/μm. The plateau in the Fowler-Nordheim plot shows the actual carrier depletion and leads to a very stable emission at ~1 μA with a current noise of less than 3.3 %. Color-filtered halogen lamp illumination was used to investigate the photo-sensitivity of the saturation current. The intensity-normalized current switching ratio increases nonlinearly with the photon energy. This hints either for secondary generation in the conduction band or deeper valence band excitation. The first is supported by a rough estimation of the quantum efficiency. Further experiments with a tunable laser and electron spectroscopy are planned.
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.