AVS 45th International Symposium
    Electronic Materials and Processing Division Monday Sessions
       Session EM-MoM

Paper EM-MoM10
Effects of Oxygen on Silicon and Platinum-coated Silicon Field Emitter Arrays

Monday, November 2, 1998, 11:20 am, Room 316

Session: Processing for Advanced Technology
Presenter: W.D. Palmer, Microelectronics Center of North Carolina
Authors: W.D. Palmer, Microelectronics Center of North Carolina
D. Temple, Microelectronics Center of North Carolina
D.G. Vellenga, Microelectronics Center of North Carolina
L.N. Yadon, Microelectronics Center of North Carolina
G.E. McGuire, Microelectronics Center of North Carolina
Correspondent: Click to Email
Field emission depends strongly on the work function of the emitter surface. At any vacuum level, molecules will adsorb on the emitter surface and change the work function by forming a chemical bond with the emitter material. . This study addresses this problem and one possible solution by testing silicon and platinum-coated silicon field emitter arrays in oxygen over a wide pressure range similar to that expected in commercial field emission flat panel displays. Platinum is less likely than silicon to form these bonds, and so should exhibit less sensitivity to the ambient gases in the display panels. The experiments were undertaken using silicon and platinum-coated silicon gated field emitter arrays fabricated at MCNC. The arrays were initially operated at base pressure (5x10@super -9@ Torr) using an automated system to guarantee that all tests were performed consistently. After collecting current versus voltage (I-V) curves for each device at base pressure, a leak valve was used to introduce oxygen at the target pressure. The arrays were then operated with a constant voltage on the gate electrode until the emission current stabilized. In this study, the data is shown as a function of exposure, the product of pressure and time, to normalize the results. I-V curves were collected at the target pressure after stabilization, then the leak valve was closed and the chamber was pumped back to base pressure. Finally, I-V curves were again collected at base pressure to verify that the array had recovered to its initial level of performance. The data collected on silicon and platinum-coated silicon field emitter arrays will be shown and compared. This work was performed under the DARPA/ETO High Definition Systems program, contract number N00014-96-C-0283.