Deep reactive ion etching for lateral field emission devices

This letter describes the design, fabrication and testing of lateral field emission diodes utilizing the deep reactive ion etch (DRIE). Devices were fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers of varied thickness, by etching the device silicon in the STS DRIE system in a single mask process. After subsequent oxidation sharpening and oxide removal, diodes were tested on a probing station under vacuum. A typical diode exhibited very high currents on the order of similar to 100 mu A at 60 V, and turn-on voltage between 35 V and 40 V. The high electron current is emitted in such a diode by multiple sharp tips vertically spaced by 450 nm along the etched sidewall due to the pulsed nature of the DRIE process.