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A HfC nanowire point electron source with oxycarbide surface of lower work function for high-brightness and stable field-emission

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Abstract

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 × 1011−3.81 × 1011 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.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Prof. K. Hono for helpful discussions on the FIM and atom probe results. 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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0047, Japan

    Shuai Tang, Jie Tang, Ta-wei Chiu, Wataru Hayami, Jun Uzuhashi, Tadakatsu Ohkubo, Fumihiko Uesugi, Masaki Takeguchi & Masanori Mitome

  2. Graduate School of Pure and Applied Science, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8857, Japan

    Jie Tang & Ta-wei Chiu

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3255, USA

    Lu-Chang Qin

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  1. Shuai Tang
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  2. Jie Tang
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  3. Ta-wei Chiu
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  4. Wataru Hayami
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  7. Fumihiko Uesugi
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  9. Masanori Mitome
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  10. Lu-Chang Qin
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Correspondence to Jie Tang or Lu-Chang Qin.

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Tang, S., Tang, J., Chiu, Tw. et al. A HfC nanowire point electron source with oxycarbide surface of lower work function for high-brightness and stable field-emission. Nano Res. 13, 1620–1626 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2782-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-2782-0

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