AVS 49th International Symposium
    Thin Films Tuesday Sessions
       Session TF-TuP

Paper TF-TuP14
Nitride -based Tipless Cold Cathodes for Microdevice Applications

Tuesday, November 5, 2002, 5:30 pm, Room Exhibit Hall B2

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: N. Badi, University of Houston
Authors: N. Badi, University of Houston
K. He, University of Houston
N. Medelci, University of Houston
A. Bensaoula, University of Houston
Correspondent: Click to Email
This paper reports on the electron field emission from sulfur doped boron nitride thin films deposited on Si, TiN/Si, and hydrogen plasma roughened silicon (Si: H@sub 2@) substrates by a filamentless End Hall ion source -assisted physical vapor deposition technique. Patterned S-BN/TiN/Si and TiN/SiO@sub 2@/S-BN/TiN/Si arrays were also fabricated by using a combination of selective wet etching and photo-assisted reactive ion etching (PA-RIE) processes. The TiN interfacial layer and the substrate morphology influence considerably the emission properties of sulfur-BN layers. Preliminary results show an enhancement in emitted current density and a reduction in threshold voltage. To investigate the effects of heat treatment and pressure on field emission, in-situ thermal annealing up to 250 °C was carried in vacuum and in a controlled air ambient. The I-V characteristics of our samples did not significantly change in a pressure range from 8 x 10@super -8@ to 3 x 10@super -5@ Torr. Temporal stability measurements at different pressures show only a small current density fluctuation. These results are encouraging as far as device operation in harsh environments.