English

Interpreting the empirical field emission equation for large area field emitters

Applied Physics 2022-02-24 v3 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics Materials Science Plasma Physics

Abstract

Both single emitters and large area field emitters (LAFE) are generally characterized using the slope and intercept of a Murphy-Good (or Fowler-Nordheim) plot which are used to extract the field enhancement factor and the emission area. Using a shielding model that has been developed recently for a LAFE, the validity of the underlying assumption is investigated. It is found that in case of a LAFE, the slope has contributions from the enhancement factor {\it as well as} the rate at which the effective number of super-emitters changes with the applied field. As a consequence, the emission area is related to both the slope and the intercept in a LAFE. When the mean spacing in a LAFE is much larger than the height of emitter, the usual interpretation of the slope and intercept are recovered.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2112.01324,
  title  = {Interpreting the empirical field emission equation for large area field emitters},
  author = {Debabrata Biswas},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2112.01324},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

6 pages, 4 figures