AVS 47th International Symposium
    Flat Panel Displays Tuesday Sessions
       Session FP+VT-TuA

Paper FP+VT-TuA1
Development and Characterization of Cu-Li Alloy Edge Field Emission Devices@footnote 1@

Tuesday, October 3, 2000, 2:00 pm, Room 313

Session: Emissive Displays and Device Reliability
Presenter: J.C. Tucek, Argonne National Laboratory
Authors: J.C. Tucek, Argonne National Laboratory
A.H. Jayatissa, Argonne National Laboratory
A.R. Krauss, Argonne National Laboratory
O. Auciello, Argonne National Laboratory
D.M. Gruen, Argonne National Laboratory
D.C. Mancini, Argonne National Laboratory
N. Moldovan, Argonne National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
Thin coatings (0.5 - 1 monolayer in thickness) of alkali metals applied to field emission devices are known to significantly enhance field electron emission. However, alkali metals are both physically and chemically unstable in layers exceeding a few Å in thickness, and therefore, it is extremely difficult to fabricate and maintain, during operation, such thin layers on FEAs. Lithium alloy films developed at Argonne National Laboratory provide very stable, low work function coatings that maintain a segregated monolayer of lithium on the surface of the alloy, even under adverse environmental conditions or ion bombardment. These Li-based alloy films have been incorporated into edge emission devices which have low emission thresholds (~3 V/µm), high emission current densities (~10 A/cm@sup 2@), and are physically robust. These devices have been operated in a continuous emission mode for up to 270 hours. After an initial decrease in the emission current level, the emission from the Cu-Li films reach a constant level at approximately 60% of the initial current level, in accord with the stability and the long-lived nature of the Cu-Li films. These devices have been tested in inert gas atmospheres at pressures up to 0.1 mTorr, and they emit (at 50% of the high vacuum level) without catastrophic failure. In addition, we will discuss experiments using a simulated flat panel display configuration and PEEM/FEEM imaging which provide information about the emission uniformity of these edge emitters. Finally, work on applications of the Cu-Li films in gated emission devices will be discussed. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@Work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, BES-Material Sciences, under Contract W-31-109-ENG-38, ONR, and the Office of Naval Research and DARPA under contract N00014-97-F0905.