Field emission in lateral silicon diode fabricated by atomic force microscopy lithography

A novel vacuum lateral silicon diode was fabricated using atomic force microscopy (AFM) lithography to characterise field emission. The silicon diode was approximately 100 nm thick, with an exceptionally smooth surface, and included a finger-like emitter with a gap width of 35 nm. From the Fowler-Nordheim, equation, the field enhancement factor (β) and the field emitting area (A) were assessed to ascertain the high emission current and the low turn-on voltage. The very small emitting area was obtained due to the extremely sharp cathode and very small radius of the anode tip curvature. The turn-on voltage of the diode was 8 V, the smallest value ever reported for lateral silicon field emission diodes.