High voltage MEMS platform for fully integrated, on-chip, vacuum electronic devices

Abstract

We demonstrate a fully integrated, on-chip, vacuum microtriode capable of handling voltages up to 800 V. The ability to operate at such high voltages is achieved by the addition of a 10 mum-thick silicon dioxide layer to the device. The device is fabricated using MEMS fabrication principles and utilizes carbon nanotubes as field emitters. A dc amplification factor of 600 was obtained. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest value reported for CNT-enabled microtriode devices. The high voltage capability of these microscale devices will enable their use in a wider variety of applications such as miniature ion sources and x-ray sources.