Effect of gas ambient on improvement in emission behavior of Si field emitter arrays

Gated Si field emitter arrays (FEAs) have been operated in various gas atmospheres such as air, H2, O2, and Ar at 10−7 Torr to improve the emission behavior. The electron emission from the FEAs was enhanced by a factor of up to 10 during or after gas ambient emission with H2, O2, and Ar, while the improvement was not observed by a process with air. Fowler–Nordheim plots indicated a drastic change in slope only for H2 processes, in which hydrogen atoms would adsorb to Si tip surfaces. An emission pattern with a fourfold symmetry was observed for a single-tip emitter after hydrogen ambient emission, indicating the tip surface crystallinity after gas ambient emission.