Spindt cathodes and other field emitter arrays

Abstract

Based on the introduction of semiconductor technologies, the application of thin-film and micromachining techniques to fabricate integrated vacuum field emission devices in the submicron size range became feasible in the 1960s. These were pioneered at SRI by C. Spindt and colleagues, who first introduced gated field emitter arrays. There are several previous extended reviews on this topic published until 2001 [1]. The present chapter presents a short wrap up of fabrication techniques and structures, and a performance update on Spindt arrays and on field emitter arrays (FEAs) in general. This chapter will only deal with regular array structures and their specific advantages and problems; random structures will not be discussed. A critical evaluation of progress and of application of FEAs in devices is given.