Physics of Electron Emission from Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials

Abstract

Nanomaterials with reduced dimensionality offers a new paradigm in the design of nanoscale vacuum devices1, 2. Because of the reduced dimensionality and the exotic energy band structure of two-dimensional (2D) materials, the physics of electron emission becomes drastically different compared to the conventional bulk materials. In this talk, we review the physics of electron emission from 2D nanomaterials. We show that, in the thermionic emission regime, the electron emission characteristics can be well-captured by a universal scaling laws broadly applicable to wide classes of 2D materials3. The modelling of electron field emission from 2D semimetals of various band topology will also be introduced. As electron emission is a critically important interfacial charge transport process in both solid/vacuum and solid/solid interfaces, the physics-based electron emission models4, 5 developed recently shall provide a theoretical foundation for both the fundamental study of surface physics, and the practical engineering of solid-state and vacuum electronic devices based on 2D materials and their heterostructures.