2002 Volume 23 Issue 1 Pages 24-30
Field emission from individual tips in n- and p-type silicon field emitter arrays (FEAs) has been directly evaluated by using an electrostatic lens projector. The number of the emission spots in the p-type FEA increased with increasing total emission current, and the p-type FEA exhibited better uniformity of the emission than the n-type FEA. In order to improve the emission uniformity, the operation of the FEAs under an atmosphere of ambient gas was executed. The emission uniformity was improved dramatically by exposing C2H4 gas. Also, surface modification of Si field emitters was investigated for damageless vacuum sealing. The vacuum sealing process reduced the emission currents from the nontreated Si FEA by a factor of 10. On the contrary, the emission current from the CHF3-plasma-treated FEA did not change before and after the vacuum sealing process.