Measurement and analysis of advanced field emitting cold cathodes

摘要

We report the experimental study of field emission from cold cathodes having a raised ridge or knife-edge structure and analyses using a Transfer Matrix Method (TMM) model used to extract the cathode parameters. Local emission current measurements were done on a copper cathode, which was fabricated using electric discharge machining (EDM) and chemical etching yielding ridges of thickness 15 mum. Measurements of total cathode currents and lateral scans of the localized field emission current distribution with a 40-micron resolution are reported and analyzed.