The trend towards minimization in ultralarge-scale integration (ULSI) fabrication requires an increasingly precise motion accuracy for an XY-stage in a high-vacuum environment of electron beam (e-beam) systems. Aerostatic bearings allow for an extremely smooth motion, because the slider of the XY-stage is supported by an air film under a noncontact condition. However, such an XY-stage in aerostatic bearings is not easily introduced into the e-beam systems because of the markedly high amount of exhaust gas leaking into a vacuum chamber. In this paper, we describe a newly developed hybrid XY-stage guided by aerostatic bearings equipped with a noncontact seal mechanism for scanning motion and by mechanical rolling guides for stepping motion.
The HfC-coated Si field emitter arrays ͑FEAs͒ controlled by built-in poly-Si thin-film transistors ͑TFTs͒ were fabricated. The FEAs were fabricated at a relatively low temperature using Ar-ion-sputter sharpening so that a low-temperature poly-Si TFT process can be applied. A HfC thin film was coated on emitting tips for improving emission lifetime. An emission control TFT having a conventional top-gate structure was fabricated using ion implantation and activation annealing. A combination of multigate and lightly doped drain ͑LDD͒ structures was effective at reducing leakage current at a high source-drain voltage. We fabricated a HfC FEA integrated with a TFT having four gate electrodes with a LDD structure. Complete control of FEA emission current by built-in TFT was demonstrated in a vacuum chamber. The detailed fabrication process and emission control characteristics are reported.
In order to control electric field relaxation at the tips of practical emitters, we found that volcano-structured double-gated field emitter arrays (VDG-FEAs) could be improved by placing the focusing electrode 470 nm below the electron extraction electrode. We demonstrated that this approach enables excellent endurance in terms of focusing potential, and confirmed its superior focusing characteristics. Even under strong focusing operation at a focusing electrode voltage of 5 V, this VDG-FEA maintained the anode current of 1.9 µA, which was 5 times larger than that of the VDG-FEA with the same height of the focusing and electron extraction electrodes.
By adding a memory function to each pixel of a field emission display (FED), an ultrahigh luminance FED with a luminance of more than 10000cd∕m2 can be realized. For this purpose, the authors fabricated a field emitter array (FEA) with a memory function, in which a FEA, emission-control thin-film transistor (TFT), memory capacitor, and write-control TFT are monolithically integrated. They used an HfC-coated Si tip for the FEA because it enables a long emission lifetime. The TFT structure was optimized to control the emission current. The memory-function FEA was demonstrated in a vacuum chamber. The data holding time of the memory function was also measured. It was sufficiently long for display applications.
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