Diamond vacuum field emission devices

This article reports the development of (a) vertical and (b) lateral diamond vacuum field emission devices with excellent field emission characteristics. These diamond field emission devices, diode and triode, were fabricated using a self-aligning gate formation technique from silicon-on-insulator wafers using conventional silicon micropatterning and etching techniques. High emission current >0.1 A was achieved from the vertical diamond field emission diode with an indented anode design. The gated diamond triode in vertical configuration displayed excellent transistor characteristics with high DC gain of ∼800 and large AC output voltage of ∼100 V p–p. Lateral diamond field emission diodes with cathode–anode spacing less than 2 μm were fabricated. The lateral diamond emitter exhibited a low turn-on voltage of ∼5 V and a high emission current of 6 μA. The low turn-on voltage (field ∼3 V/μm) and high emission characteristics are the best of reported lateral field emitter structures.