Dynamic Properties of Individual Carbon Nanotube Emitters for Maskless Lithography

摘要

The stable chemical structure, high current density, and low turn-on fields of carbon nanotubes make them highly attractive for cold field emission applications. The individual CNT's low electron beam energy spread and high brightness values make it particularly desirable for advanced applications such as electron microscopy and electron beam lithography at 20-nm and below critical dimension regime. A fundamental understanding of the individual carbon nanotube electron source is essential for implementation of such applications. We previously demonstrated an improved fabrication technique for individual CNT emitters based on MEMS technology. Also, our group presented an experimental and simulation investigation of the influence of cathode support structure geometry on the field emission properties of a single CNT emitter. In this paper, we present an empirical study of dynamic behavior of an electron source system which incorporates an individual CNT. We propose a representative circuit model that is simple yet particularly valuable for emission current control for each CNT emitter in an array to facilitate high throughput maskless lithography.