Diamond vacuum field emission devices

This article reports the development of (a) vertical and (b) lateral diamond vacuum field emission devices with excellent field emission characteristics. These diamond field emission devices, diode and triode, were fabricated using a self-aligning gate formation technique from silicon-on-insulator wafers using conventional silicon micropatteming and etching techniques. High emission current >0.1 Awas achieved from the vertical diamond field emission diode with an indented anode design. The gated diamond triode in vertical configuration displayed excellent transistor characteristics with high DC gain of similar to800 and large AC output voltage of similar to100 V p-p. Lateral diamond field emission diodes with cathode-anode spacing less than 2 lmi were fabricated. The lateral diamond emitter exhibited a low turn-on voltage of similar to.5 V and a high emission current of 6 muA. The low turn-on voltage (field similar to3 V/mum) and high emission characteristics are the best of reported lateral field emitter structures. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.