Space charge effects in field emission nanodevices

Electron field emission from a single nanoemitter is a barrier tunneling, quantum mechanical process that can, therefore, be described by the well-known Fowler-Nordheim (FN) equation. At high emission current densities, however, the space charge caused by the cathode may affect the current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics predicted by the FN theory. In this study, we theoretically investigated the effect of space charge on FE nanodevices, including diode and triode structures. The J-V characteristics of FE nanodevices were obtained by analytically (diode structures) or numerically (triode structures) solving the coupled FN equation and Poisson's equation. We discuss the behavior of FE nanodiodes and nanotriodes displaying different geometries, dimensions and work functions of their emitter materials. In the high current density region, space charge plays an important role in FE nanodevices; the threshold current density of space-charge limitation is related to the electric field distributions. Besides, our theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental results reported previously.