摘要
Electric field-induced point electron source is highly demanded for microscopy,spectroscopy,lithography,X-ray tubes,microwave devices,and data displays.However,the instability in emission current and requirement of ultrahigh vacuum have often limited its extensive applications.Herewith we report a single-crystalline HfC nanowire with oxycarbide emission surface for stable electron emission at 50 nA with fluctuations less than 1%in a vacuum of 4×10^−7 Pa.The emitter has a low work function of 2.5 eV measured by the field emission Fowler-Nordheim curve and it is in good agreement with density functional theory(DFT)calculations.The energy spread is in a range of 0.21–0.26 eV with a corresponding reduced brightness 1.95×10^11−3.81×10^11 A·m^−2·sr^−1·V^−1.The HfC nanowire with oxycarbide emission surface is a qualified candidate for the next-generation electron source with high brightness,large current,and low energy spread.
基金
This work was supported partially by the NIMS-DENKA Centre of Excellence for Next Generation Materials
A part of this work was also supported by NIMS Microstructural Characterization Platform as a program of“Nanotechnology Platform”of the Ministry of Education,Culture,Sports,Science and Technology(MEXT),Japan.
