Vacuum field emission devices and methods of making same
AssigneeUT-Battelle, LLC
InventorsRoger A. KISNER, Kofi KORSAH, John T. SIMPSON, Alexander M. MELIN
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Abstract
A field emission device includes a substrate and a plurality of wires embedded in the substrate. The plurality of wires has at least a field emitter cathode wire; a control grid wire array; and a collector anode array. The field emitter cathode wire, control grid wire array, and collector anode array are embedded in and extend through a nonconductive substrate matrix. A method for making a vacuum field emission device is also disclosed.
Claims34
A field emission device, comprising a substrate and a plurality of wires, a field emitter cathode comprising at least one of said wires;
- a plurality of the wires being separated from the field emitter cathode as a control grid wire array;
- and another plurality of said wires being separated from the control grid and providing a collector anode array with the control grid interposed between the field emitter cathode and the collector anode array, the wires being embedded in and extending through the substrate, and emerging from the substrate at a device end of the substrate to form the field emitter, control grid, and collector anode.
A method for making a field emission device, comprising the steps of
- providing a plurality of glass coated wires;
- bundling a plurality of the coated wires, said plurality of wires comprising a center field emitter cathode;
- a control grid wire array;
- and a collector anode collector array;
- heating the bundled coated wires to fuse the tube material coating the wires and create a fused substrate with the field emitter cathode, control grid, and collector anode embedded therein;
- cutting the fused substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.