Characteristics of Silicon Nanowire Field Electron Emission

Abstract:

Silicon nanowires with fine tip curvature and high aspect ratio are the promising alternative as the electron emitter to promote field electron emission characteristics. The fabrication of silicon nanowires based on the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism was performed in the low pressure chemical vapor deposition chamber in the present work. The gold has its lower eutectic point than other materials and deposited on silicon wafer as the catalyst for silicon nanowire synthesis. The structural properties of the nanowires, including number density, size, aspect ratio and tapering geometry, were optimized by various experimental recipes. The results showed that the low turn-on filed of the nanowire was comparable with the published materials. The 1.2 V/μm low turn-on field was detected from the silicon nanowires which have high aspect ratio and tapered tip emitter when the silicon nanowires were synthesized under the reaction conditions at 620 °C grown for 60 minutes with silane and nitrogen flow rates at 100 SCCM.

• Periodical: Advanced Materials Research (Volumes 652-654)
• Pages: 654-658
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.652-654.654
• Online since: January 2013
• Authors: Hsin Luen Tsai
• Keywords: Field Emission, Silicon Nanowires (SiNWs), Turn-on Field, Vapor-Liquid-Solid (VLS)

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