微小電子源をつくる　－サファイア基板上に作製したMIMトンネルエミッタの特性－

摘要

A tunnel emitter generates an electron emission into the vacuum using a tunnel phenomenon. Itis expected as a miniature cold cathode in a micron size vacuum tube integrated circuit. Thefabrication process and the operation characteristic of tunnel emitter with MIM (Metal-Insulator-Metal) or MIS (Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor) structure have been studied by many investigators.In these, the MIM type is favorable to develop a large size electron emission array, which isapplicable to optical image display panel because of its simple structure and inexpensive fabricationcost. In this article, the process of low current density and long time anodic oxidation of Al filmdeposited on a sapphire substrate in a low temperature dilute ammonium tartrate solution to forman excellent quality thin Al tunnel oxide layer was shown briefly. On the oxide layer, a MIM typetunnel emitter having a １mm2 emission area was fabricated and the emission characteristics weremeasured in vacuum as a function of oxide thickness.