The Influence of Dipole Polarization of an Emitting Surface on Autoemission Thresholds of a Multitip Silicon Cathode Matrices

Abstract

Regularities of changes in the structural-phase composition and morphological and field-emission characteristics of surface-structured silicon wafers with various types of conductivity have been studied. It is shown that the use of a fluorocarbon plasma in the process of structuring, along with a carbon mask coating, allows obtaining preset autoemission currents of silicon cathode matrices when the external electric-field strength varies in a wide range irrespectively of the change of the gain factors of the fields of the emitting protrusions. The dominant role of dipole polarization in autoemission of electrons in surface-modified silicon structures has been established.