Field emitter with wide band gap emission areas and method of using
AssigneeSI Diamond Technology, Inc.
InventorNalin Kumar
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Abstract
A field emitter including an exposed wide band gap emission area in contact with and protruding from a planar surface of a conductive metal, and a method of making is disclosed. Suitable wide band gap materials (2.5-7.0 electron-volts) include diamond, aluminum-nitride and gallium-nitride; suitable conductive metals include titanium, tungsten, gold and graphite. The method includes disposing the wide band gap material on a substrate, disposing the conductive metal on the wide band gap material, and etching the conductive metal to expose wide band gap emission areas. The emission areas are well suited for large area flat panel displays.
Claims16
A method of emitting electrons from a field emitter, comprising the steps of:
- passing electrons from a conductive metal into an exposed wide band gap emission area in contact with and protruding from a substantially planar surface of the conductive metal;
- applying a voltage to the conductive metal to force the electrons in the conductive metal to ballistically tunnel through the emission area;
- and
- emitting the electrons from the emission area by field emission.
A field emitter, comprising:
- a conductive metal;
- and
- an exposed emission area composed entirely of wide band gap material in contact with and protruding from a substantially planar surface of the conductive metal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.