This paper presents a consistent quantum mechanical model of Child-Langmuir (CL) law, including electron exchange-correlation interaction, electrode's surface curvature, and finite emitter area. The classical value of the CL law is increased by a larger factor due to the electron tunneling through the space-charge potential, and the electron exchange-correlation interaction becomes important when the applied gap voltage Vg and the gap spacing D are, respectively, on the order of Hartree energy level, and nanometer scale. It is found that the classical scaling of Vg(3/2) and D(-2) is no longer valid in the quantum regime, and a new scaling of Vg(1/2) and D(-4) is established. The smooth transition from the classical regime to the quantum regime is also demonstrated.

Conformal mapping is used to calculate the electric field on a knife-edge cathode, modeled as a rectangular ridge on a flat surface. It is found that the field enhancement factor scales approximately as the square root of the height-to-width ratio of the knife edge. A simple analytic approximation for the divergent electric field in the immediate vicinity of the sharp edge is derived. When a smaller knife edge is placed on top of a larger one, both assumed to have large height-to-width ratios, the composite field enhancement factor is shown to be approximately equal to the product of the field enhancement factor of the individual knife edges, thereby proving the conjecture on multiplication of field enhancement factors for one special case.

A simple physical derivation of Child-Langmuir space-charge-limited emission using vacuum capacitance Am.Space-charge-limited ͑SCL͒ flows in diodes have been an area of active research since the pioneering work of Child and Langmuir in the early part of the last century. Indeed, the scaling of current density with the voltage to the 3/2's power is one of the best-known limits in the fields of non-neutral plasma physics, accelerator physics, sheath physics, vacuum electronics, and high power microwaves. In the past five years, there has been renewed interest in the physics and characteristics of SCL emission in physically realizable configurations. This research has focused on characterizing the current and current density enhancement possible from two-and three-dimensional geometries, such as field-emitting arrays. In 1996, computational efforts led to the development of a scaling law that described the increased current drawn due to two-dimensional effects. Recently, this scaling has been analytically derived from first principles. In parallel efforts, computational work has characterized the edge enhancement of the current density, leading to a better understanding of the physics of explosive emission cathodes. In this paper, the analytic and computational extensions to the one-dimensional Child-Langmuir law will be reviewed, the accuracy of SCL emission algorithms will be assessed, and the experimental implications of multidimensional SCL flows will be discussed.

Laser-driven ultrafast electron emission offers the possibility of manipulation and control of coherent electron motion in ultrashort spatiotemporal scales. Here, an analytical solution is constructed for the highly nonlinear electron emission from a dc biased metal surface illuminated by a single frequency laser, by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation exactly. The solution is valid for arbitrary combinations of dc electric field, laser electric field, laser frequency, metal work function and Fermi level. Various emission mechanisms, such as multiphoton absorption or emission, optical or dc field emission, are all included in this single formulation. The transition between different emission processes is analyzed in detail. The time-dependent emission current reveals that intense current modulation may be possible even with a low intensity laser, by merely increasing the applied dc bias. The results provide insights into the electron pulse generation and manipulation for many novel applications based on ultrafast laser-induced electron emission.

It is found that the Langmuir-Blodgett solutions for the space charge limited current density, for both cylindrical and spherical diodes, may be approximated by Japp=(4/9)ε0sqrt[(2e/m)](Ec3/2/sqrt[D]) over a wide range of parameters, where Ec is the surface electric field on the cathode of the vacuum diode and D is the anode-cathode spacing. This dependence is valid whether Ra/Rc is greater than or less than unity, where Ra and Rc are, respectively, the anode and cathode radius. Minor empirical corrections to the above scaling yield fitting formulas that are accurate to within 5% for 3×10(-5)

Analytically tractable models of thermal-field emission, field enhancement, and heating mechanisms (Nottingham and resistive) are developed and combined to make estimates of the fields and temperatures that accompany the development and growth of asperities. The relation of asperity dimensions to dark current is discussed in two experimentally motivated examples. The hypothetical relation of microscopic sources of dark current and heating to breakdown is discussed in the context of Nottingham and resistive heating. The latter are estimated using a general thermal-field methodology. A point-charge model is used to find field enhancement factors. Last, a thermal model is used to estimate the temperature dependence of the resistivity and thermal conductivity. Together, these models suggest that conditions can arise in which the temperature at the apex of an asperity can experience growth and contribute to melting or fracture (or both), and that Nottingham heating generally dominates the resistive heating term.

The fundamental Child–Langmuir limit on the maximum current density in a vacuum between two infinite parallel electrodes is one of the most well known and often applied rules of plasma physics. We develop a simple model using vacuum capacitance, conservation of energy, and conservation of charge to derive the Child–Langmuir space-charge-limited emission. This capacitive model provides physical insight into the origins of the well known (voltage)3/2/(gap distance)2 scaling of the classical current density and does not require the solution of the nonlinear differential equation normally associated with the Child–Langmuir formulation. In addition, the full spacecharge-limited solution is reproduced without imposing the condition that the electric field be driven to zero at the cathode surface.

Articles you may be interested inEnhancement-mode nanowire (nanobelt) field-effect-transistors with Schottky-contact source and drain electrodes Appl.Growth of high performance InGaAs/InP doped channel heterojunction field effect transistor with a strained GaInP Schottky barrier enhancement layer by gas source molecular beam epitaxy Of great interest to high power microwave, millimeter wave to terahertz sources, x-ray tubes, electrons guns, etc., is the electric field enhancement obtained from sharp emitting structures fabricated by various microfabrication methods. In this paper, we use conformal mapping to investigate the field enhancement of several rectilinear geometries, including a single rectangular ridge, a trapezoidal ridge, and their superposition, i.e., one ridge on top of another. We show that the composite field enhancement factor of the double ridge with a microprotrusion on top of a macroprotrusion is dominated by the product of the individual protrusions' field enhancement factors over a very wide range of geometric aspect ratios, as conjectured by Schottky. Simplified scaling laws are proposed. Significant deviation from Schottky's product rule occurs almost exclusively when the half-width of the macroprotrusion is less than the height of the microprotrusion. Accurate expressions of the divergent electric field near the sharp edges are derived.