GaN field emitter rods with nanometer diameter were fabricated by photoelectrochemical etching on a n+-GaN substrate. Their electron field emission properties were investigated under ultraviolet (UV) illumination. The Fowler–Nordheim plots of the emission current show different slopes for nonilluminated and UV illuminated devices. A model based on the electron emission from valleys having different specific electron affinities is proposed to explain the experimental results. In the absence of illumination, the GaN rods are almost fully depleted and emission takes place only from the lower valley. Upon UV illumination and presence of a high electric field at the emitter tip, the upper valley of the conduction band appears to be occupied by electrons generated at the valence band. The energy difference between the lower and upper valleys was determined to be 1.15eV and is in good agreement with formerly published theoretical and measured values.
Argon plasma etched GaN field-emitter rods with nanometer-scale diameter were fabricated on GaN grown on an n+-GaN substrate. Their electron field emission properties were investigated both without and under illumination by using light sources with various wavelengths. The Fowler–Nordheim current-voltage characteristics of the cathodes show a change in slope for illuminated cathodes. The electron affinity difference ΔE between the different valleys in the conduction band has been ascertained and is in the range from 1.18 up to 1.21 eV.
A sharp increase of the emission current at high electric fields and a decrease of the threshold voltage after pre-breakdown conditioning of diamond-like carbon (DLC) films have been measured. This effect was observed for DLC-coated silicon tips and GaAs wedges. During electron field emission (EFE) at high electric fields the energy barriers caused by an sp 3 phase between sp 2 inclusions can be broken, resulting in the formation of conducting nanochannels between the semiconductor-DLC interface and the surface of the DLC film. At high current densities and the resulting local heating, the diamond-like sp 3 phase transforms into a conducting graphite-like sp 2 phase. As a result an electrical conducting nanostructured channel is formed in the DLC film. The diameter of the conducting nanochannel was estimated from the reduced threshold voltage after pre-breakdown conditioning to be in the range of 5-25 nm. The presence of this nanochannel in an insulating matrix leads to a local enhancement of the electric field and a reduced threshold voltage for EFE. Based on the observed features an efficient method of conducting nanochannel matrix formation in flat DLC films for improved EFE efficiency is proposed. It mainly uses a silicon tip array as an upper electrode in contact with the DLC film. The formation of nanochannels starts at the interface between the tips and the DLC film. This opens new possibilities of aligned and high-density conducting channel formation.
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