Skip to main content
Log in

Theory of field emission

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
The European Physical Journal B Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 17 December 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

A serious barrier impedes the comparison between the theoretical prediction and the experimental observation in field emission because there is no way to measure the emission area. We introduce three dimensionless variables ℛJ, 𝒮 and 𝒟 to construct a formulation for connecting directly the theoretical variables and experimental data without measuring the emission area. Based on this formulation we can analyze that the behaviors of ℛJ, 𝒮 and 𝒟 with the voltages between the anode and the emitter to reveals the characteristics of current–voltage (I–V) curve and detect the physical properties of emitters. This formulation provides a way to understand the fundamental physics of I–V curve in field emission and to set up a map between the physical properties of emitters and the experimental I–V curve.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Change history

  • 17 December 2018

    The figures were missing in the online version of the published article. This erratum provides the correct online file. The Publisher apologizes for the inconvenience.

  • 17 December 2018

    The figures were missing in the online version of the published article. This erratum provides the correct online file. The Publisher apologizes for the inconvenience.

References

  1. N.S. Xu, S. Ejaz Huq, Mater. Sci. Eng. R 48, 47 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. J.M. Bonard, H. Kind, T. Stockli, L.O. Nilsson, Solid-State Electron. 45, 893 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. J.M. Bonard, J.P. Salvetat, T. Stockli, L. Forro, A. Chatelain, Solid-State Appl. Phys. A69, 245 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  4. A.O. Gogolin, A. Komnik, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 256806 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. S.D. Liang, L. Chen, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 027602 (2008)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. X. Yang, H. Gan, Y. Tian, L. Peng, N. Xu, J. Chen, H. Chen, S. Deng, S.D. Liang, F. Liu, Sci. Rep. 7, 13057 (2017)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. S.D. Liang, Quantum tunneling and field electron emission theories (World Scientific Press, 2014)

  8. J.W. Gadzuk, E.W. Plummer, Rev. Mod. Phys. 45, 487 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. R.G. Forbes, Proc. R. Soc. A 469, 2158 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. R.G. Forbes, J.H.B. Deane, A. Fischer, M.S. Mousa, Jordan J. Phys. 8, 125 (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  11. R.G. Forbes, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 26, 209 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. W.P. Dyke et al., J. Appl. Phys. 24, 570 (1953)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. W.P. Dyke, J.K. Tolan, Phys. Rev. 89, 799 (1953)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. R.H. Fowler, L.W. Nordheim, Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 119, 173 (1928)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  15. W. Schottky, Phys. Z. 15, 872 (1914)

    Google Scholar 

  16. E.L. Murphy, R.H. Good, Phys. Rev. 102, 1464 (1956)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. R.E. Burgess, H. Kroemer, J.M. Houston, Phys. Rev. 90, 516 (1953)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  18. R.G. Forbes, C.J. Edgcombe, U. Valdr, Ultramicroscopy 95, 57 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. L.N. Dobretsov, M.V. Gomoyunova, Emission Electronics (Original version, in Russian, 1966; English version by Israel Program for Scientific Translations Ltd, printed by Keter Press, Jerusalem, 1971)

  20. R.G. Forbes, in Proc. Young Researchers in Vacuum Micro/Nano Electronics Conf., St Petersburg, October 2016, edited by N.V. Egorov, K.A. Nikiforov, IEEE Explore, March 2017 (2016), pp. 31–39

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shi-Dong Liang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Liang, SD. Theory of field emission. Eur. Phys. J. B 91, 182 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2018-90181-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2018-90181-x

Keywords

Navigation