Tunable graphene micro-emitters with fast temporal response and controllable electron emission

Gongtao Wu, Xianlong Wei (), Song Gao, Qing Chen and Lianmao Peng
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Gongtao Wu: Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Peking University
Xianlong Wei: Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Peking University
Song Gao: Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Peking University
Qing Chen: Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Peking University
Lianmao Peng: Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Peking University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Microfabricated electron emitters have been studied for half a century for their promising applications in vacuum electronics. However, tunable microfabricated electron emitters with fast temporal response and controllable electron emission still proves challenging. Here, we report the scaling down of thermionic emitters to the microscale using microfabrication technologies and a Joule-heated microscale graphene film as the filament. The emission current of the graphene micro-emitters exhibits a tunability of up to six orders by a modest gate voltage. A turn-on/off time of less than 1 μs is demonstrated for the graphene micro-emitters, indicating a switching speed about five orders of magnitude faster than their bulky counterparts. Importantly, emission performances of graphene micro-emitters are controllable and reproducible through engineering graphene dimensions by microfabrication technologies, which enables us to fabricate graphene micro-emitter arrays with uniform emission performances. Graphene micro-emitters offer an opportunity of realizing large-scale addressable micro-emitter arrays for vacuum electronics applications.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11513

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