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Marshmallowing of nanopillar arrays by field emission

Source: J. Appl. Phys. 107, 054308 (2010); doi:10.1063/1.3309776

Published 4 March 2010

KEYWORDS and PACS
Keywords
PACS
  • 79.70.+q
    Field emission, ionization, evaporation, and desorption
  • 81.15.Jj
    Ion and electron beam-assisted deposition; ion plating
  • YEAR: 2010
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PUBLICATION DATA
ISSN:
1553-9644 (online)
Publisher:
AIP is a member of CrossRef AIP
Hua Qin, Hyun-Seok Kim, and Robert H. Blick
Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1415 Engineering Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
We fabricated nanoscale field electron emitters formed by highly-doped silicon nanopillars on a silicon membrane. Electron-beam induced deposition of carbon-based contaminants is employed as a probe of the spatial activity of electron emission from the nanopillars. In stark contrast to the general assumption that field emission only occurs at the tips of nanoscale emitters, we found strong emission from the sidewalls of the nanopillars. This is revealed by the deposition of carbon contaminants on these sidewalls, so that the nanopillars finally resemble marshmallows. We conclude that field emission from nanostructured surfaces is more intricate than previously expected. ©2010 American Institute of Physics
History: Received 6 January 2010; accepted 10 January 2010; published 4 March 2010
Permalink: http://link.aip.org/link/?JAPIAU/107/054308/1

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