Low Voltage Electron Emission from BaTiO₃ Thin Films Treated in Hydrochloric Acid

Abstract

Low voltage electron emission from ferroelectric thin films consisting of BaTiO₃ is reported. The 1 μm thick BaTiO₃ thin films were deposited by spin coating and were annealed to improve their crystallinity. Then surface treatments using hydrochloric acid have been performed and very thin gold top electrodes were deposited. The electron emission capability of these thin films has been tested using a parallel cathode-positively biased anode arrangement in a vacuum chamber at 10^-5 Pa. The turn on electric field for electron emission was 23 V/μm and we obtained an emission charge of about 200 pC/cycle at an electric field of 100 V/μm. [DOI: 10.1380/ejssnt.2008.164]