Fabrication and characteristics of silicon micro-tip arrays

Si field emission arrays (FEAs) were produced using simple optical lithography and plasma dry etching. By optimizing plasma etching conditions, we achieved uniform ultra-sharp emitters with 50 nm radius, 3.6 μm height, 60° cone angle, and 1.38×10⁶ tips/cm² packing density. For the fabricated FEAs, it was found that turn-on voltage was 850 V and the field emission current was 24 μA at 1100 V. It was also found that field enhancement factor γ of the fabricated Si FEAs was approximately 58. Nanomechanical characterization of Si necked tips array was performed by nanoindentation technology. The critical buckling load and critical stress of the Si necked tips array were 570 μN and 1.192 GPa, respectively.