61 research outputs found
Optical Control of Field-Emission Sites by Femtosecond Laser Pulses
We have investigated field emission patterns from a clean tungsten tip apex
induced by femtosecond laser pulses. Strongly asymmetric modulations of the
field emission intensity distributions are observed depending on the
polarization of the light and the laser incidence direction relative to the
azimuthal orientation of tip apex. In effect, we have realized an ultrafast
pulsed field-emission source with site selectivity on the 10 nm scale.
Simulations of local fields on the tip apex and of electron emission patterns
based on photo-excited nonequilibrium electron distributions explain our
observations quantitatively.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Field emission in ordered arrays of ZnO nanowires prepared by nanosphere lithography and extended Fowler-Nordheim analyses
A multistage chemical method based on nanosphere lithography was used to produce hexagonally patterned arrays of ZnO vertical nanowires, with 1 lm interspacing and aspect ratio 20, with a view to study the effects of emitter uniformity on the current emitted upon application of a dc voltage across a 250 lm vacuum gap. A new treatment, based on the use of analytical expressions for the image-potential correction functions, was applied to the linear region below 2000 V of the Fowler-Nordheim (FN) plot and showed the most suitable value of the work function / in the range 3.3–4.5 eV (conduction band emission) with a Schottky lowering parameter y ~ 0.72 and a field enhancement factor c in the 700–1100 range. A modeled c value of 200 was calculated for an emitter shape of a prolate ellipsoid of revolution and also including the effect of nanowire screening, in fair agreement with the experimental value. The Fowler-Nordheim current densities
and effective emission areas were derived as 1011 Am2 and 1017 m2, respectively, showing that field emission likely takes place in an area of atomic dimensions at the tip of the emitter. Possible causes for the observed departure from linear FN plot behavior above 2000 V were discussed
Comments on the continuing widespread and unnecessary use of a defective emission equation in field emission related literature
Field electron emission (FE) has relevance in many different technological
contexts. However, many related technological papers use a physically defective
elementary FE equation for local emission current density (LECD). This equation
takes the tunneling barrier as exactly triangular, as in the original FE theory
of 90 years ago. More than 60 years ago, it was shown that the so-called
Schottky-Nordheim (SN) barrier, which includes an image-potential-energy term
(that models exchange-and-correlation effects) is better physics. For a
metal-like emitter with work-function 4.5 eV, the SN-barrier-related
Murphy-Good FE equation predicts LECD values that are higher than the
elementary equation values by a large factor, often between around 250 and
around 500. By failing to mention/apply this 60-year-old established science,
or to inform readers of the large errors associated with the elementary
equation, many papers (aided by defective reviewing) spread a new kind of
"pathological science", and create a modern research-integrity problem. The
present paper aims to enhance author and reviewer awareness by summarizing
relevant aspects of FE theory, by explicitly identifying the misjudgment in the
original 1928 Fowler-Nordheim paper, by explicitly calculating the size of the
resulting error, and by showing in detail why most FE theoreticians regard the
1950s modifications as better physics. Suggestions are made, about nomenclature
and about citation practice, that may help to diminish misunderstandings.Comment: Submitted for publication; in v2 a correction to historical
information (with no numerical consequences) has been made in Appendix
Paradox of low field enhancement factor for field emission nanodiodes in relation to quantum screening effects
We put forward the quantum screening effect in field emission [FE] nanodiodes, explaining relatively low field enhancement factors due to the increased potential barrier that impedes the electron Fowler-Nordheim tunneling, which is usually observed in nanoscale FE experiments. We illustratively show this effect from the energy band diagram and experimentally verify it by performing the nanomanipulation FE measurement for a single P-silicon nanotip emitter (Φ = 4.94eV), with a scanning tungsten-probe anode (work function, Φ = 4.5eV) that constitutes a 75-nm vacuum nanogap. A macroscopic FE measurement for the arrays of emitters with a 17-μm vacuum microgap was also performed for a fair comparison
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