Peculiarities of the electron field emission from quantum-size structures

The electron field emission from semiconductor based layered structures has been investigated. Among studied structures were silicon tips coated with ultra-thin DLC layer, multilayer structures Si-SiO2-Si*-SiO-(2) with delta-doped Si* layer, nanocomposite layers SiOxNy(Si) with Si nanocrystals embedded in SiOxNy matrix, GaN layers and Si-SiGe heterostructures. All of them have such peculiarities of electron field emission as peaks on emission current-voltage characteristics and corresponding Fowler-Nordheim plots. A physical model is proposed for explanation of experimental results. All emitters have layer, cluster wire or dot with quantum-size restriction in it. As a result, the quantum well with splitted electron levels exists or appears at electric field. Additional mechanism of electron emission-resonance tunneling is realized at definite electric fields. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.