Resonant tunneling field emission of Si sponge-like structures

In this work, electron field emission from resonant tunneling systems based on Si sponge-like structures was studied. During the electrochemical etching of flat Si wafers using the galvanic anodization method, Si sponge-like structures were formed. Each non-monolithic Si wire includes preferably two types of Si particles with sizes ranging from 1 to 1.2 nm and from 1.3 to 1.4 nm. The smallest etching currents were possible to realize due to the galvanic anodization technique that resulted in the formation of more uniform structures. The structures obtained enable us to get reproducible resonant peaks during current flow in the field emission process. The origin of peaks was attributed to the resonant tunneling mechanism of electrons through the multibarrier structure.