Studying fringe field effect of a field emitter array

Field emitter arrays on heavy As-doped Si wafer are studied in vacuum nanoelectronics diode configuration. Different shapes of emitters are considered: cone-shaped point-emitters and cylinder-shaped sharp-edge-emitters are compared. Micro scale field enhancement factor on the edge of cylindrical emitter was calculated via home-developed Matlab application and the results are presented. Two types of anode geometry are proposed: plane anode and spherical anode. Experimental and modelling results of surface electric field distribution are presented. The spherical shape of anode allows higher voltage (and higher field emission current) without destructive arcs risk