Extreme low voltage field emission of SiC nanowire

Abstract

Field emission properties of SiC emitters with 14 nm gap between the cathode and anode are investigated here. With this nano gap, field emission can be turned on at 3V, which is much lower than that in previous works and comparable to that of CNT emitters. Its emission current follows the Fowler-Nordheim relationship and reaches up to 22.3nA at 5V. The influence of emitter width on field emission properties is also investigated here. With the decrease of emitter width, field emission from single SiC emitter is significantly enhanced. This work provides a path way to design and optimize field emission based vacuum devices working at low voltage.