Field emission from silicon nanowires: Conditioning and stability

Abstract

We report the low-pressure chemical vapor deposition growth and field emission characterization of silicon nanowires (SiNWs). Our field emission results show the importance of the so called conditioning process on the reproducibility of the emission performance itself; this effect has proven to be reversible for the investigated current regime. We explained this behavior by invoking a current-driven desorption of residual adsorbed gases. A highly reproducible turn-on electric field of 27 V∕μm is found for a diode-connected SiNW planar sample. Furthermore, stability analysis is performed showing the technologically promising field emission behavior of the samples.