Multi-material thermionic electron emitters

Abstract

The present disclosure can relate to a thermionic emission device. The thermionic emission device can include a substrate layer, an insulating layer deposited onto an uppermost surface of the substrate layer, and an electron emitting layer deposited onto an uppermost surface of the insulating layer. The electron emitting layer, the insulating layer, and the substrate layer each can include a first etching and a second etching oriented according to a photoresist pattern applied to an uppermost surface of the electron emitting layer. The first etching and the second etching can converge to form a cavity in the substrate layer beneath a beam suspended above the cavity. The beam can comprise an unetched region of the electron emitting layer and the insulating layer oriented between the first etching and the second etching.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.