First demonstration of vacuum-sealed fully integrated BEOL-compatible field emission devices for Si integrated high voltage applications

Abstract

CMOS-integrated high voltage devices are needed for applications in sensors / actuators and power systems. Current high voltage technologies based on GaN and SiC are not easily integrated with silicon CMOS [1]–[2]. Vacuum nanoelectronic devices based on field emission are a promising alternative approach for achieving high voltage devices on Si. Because vacuum serves as the electron transport medium, the blocking voltages in these devices can be much higher than their solid-state counterparts [3]. To date, however, there have been very few reports of fully integrated field emitters, most of which require high vacuum operation, are not CMOS-compatible and demonstrate poor scalability [4]–[6]. Here, we demonstrate the first vacuum-sealed fully integrated diode and triode field emission arrays that are developed in a scalable, BEOL-compatible process directly on Si. We extensively characterize both diode and triode arrays, demonstrating gate modulated field emission in the on-state and blocking voltages of200V.