Ion and electron energies in gated field emitter failures

• Published in: IEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. 259 - 260
• Main Authors: Browning, J., Meassick, S., Xia, Z., Chan, C., McGruer, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.04.1993; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Battery charge measurement; Electromagnetic fields; Electromagnetic propagation; Electromagnetic scattering; Electromagnetic wave polarization; Electron emission; Electronic tubes, masers; Electronics; Elementary particle vacuum; Equations; Exact sciences and technology; Vacuum arcs; Voltage; Potential energy; Electric arc; Vacuum; Cathode; Ions; Field emission; Microelectronics; Measurement method; Current density; Electrons
• ISSN: 0093-3813; 1939-9375
• DOI: 10.1109/27.219398

In previous work (1992), the authors studied the characteristics of gated field emitter failures and developed a theory to explain failure initiation. During a failure, the voltage between the emitter tip and gate (spaced 1 mu m apart) was found to drop from -140 V to approximately=-10 V. The current density was found to be approximately 10/sup 12/ A/m/sup 2/ during the failure, and plumes of ions and electrons were injected into vacuum. The ratio of ion current to electron current was found to be 10%. Those results indicated that the failures were similar to cathodic vacuum arcs. In the present study the energies of the ions and electrons are measured using a retarding potential energy analyzer. The results show that there are ions with energies as high as 80 eV and electrons with energies of 6 eV. The high-energy ions confirm that emitter failures are cathodic vacuum arcs.< >