High-density metallic nano-emitter arrays and their field emission characteristics

We report the fabrication and field emission properties of high-density nano-emitter arrays with on-chip electron extraction gate electrodes and up to 10(6) metallic nanotips that have an apex curvature radius of a few nanometers and a the tip density exceeding 10(8) cm(-2). The gate electrode was fabricated on top of the nano-emitter arrays using a self-aligned polymer mask method. By applying a hot-press step for the polymer planarization, gate-nanotip alignment precision below 10 nm was achieved. Fabricated devices exhibited stable field electron emission with a current density of 0.1 A cm(-2), indicating that these are promising for applications that require a miniature high-brightness electron source.