Field emission devices employing diamond particle emitters
US5977697A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 13, 1998 |
| Grant date | Nov 2, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 13, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH01J2201/30457
- WIPO fieldElectrical machinery, apparatus, energy
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Improved diamond particle emitters, useful for flat panel displays, are fabricated by suspending nanometer-sized ultra-fine particles in a solution, applying the suspension as a coating onto a conducting substrate such as n-type Si or metal, subjecting the coated substrate to a plasma of hydrogen, and applying a thin, conformal diamond overcoating layer onto the particles. The resulting emitters show excellent emission properties, such as extremely low turn-on voltage, good uniformity and high current densities. In particular, the electron emitters are capable of producing electron emission current densities of at least 0.1 mA/,mm.sup.2 at extremely low vacuum electric fields of 0.2-3.0 V/.mu.m V/.mu.m. These field values are about an order of magnitude lower than exhibited by the best defective CVD diamond and almost two orders of magnitude lower than p-type semiconducting diamond. It is further found that the emission characteristics remain the same even after the plasma treated diamond surface is exposed to air for several months.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.