Tunneling emitter with nanohole openings
First Claim
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1. An emitter, comprising:
- an electron supply;
a porous cathode layer having nanohole openings; and
a tunneling layer disposed between the electron supply and the cathode layer.
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Abstract
An emitter has an electron supply and a porous cathode layer having nanohole openings. The emitter also has a tunneling layer disposed between the electron supply and the cathode layer.
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Citations
72 Claims
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1. An emitter, comprising:
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an electron supply;
a porous cathode layer having nanohole openings; and
a tunneling layer disposed between the electron supply and the cathode layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A storage device, comprising:
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at least one emitter to generate an electron beam current, wherein the at least one emitter has a cathode emission surface having nanohole openings;
a lens for focusing the electron beam current to create a focused beam; and
a storage medium in close proximity to the at least one emitter, the storage medium having a storage area being in one of a plurality of states to represent the information stored in that storage area;
such that;
an effect is generated when the focused beam strikes the storage area;
the magnitude of the effect depends on the state of the storage area; and
the information stored in the storage area is read by measuring the magnitude of the effect. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24)
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25. An emitter, comprising:
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an electron supply layer;
an insulator layer formed on the electron supply layer and having an opening defined within;
a tunneling layer formed over the electron supply layer in the opening; and
a cathode layer formed on the tunneling layer having nanohole openings;
wherein the emitter has been subjected to an annealing process to increase the supply of electrons tunneled from the electron supply layer to the cathode layer for energy emission. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 40, 50)
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35. An emitter, comprising:
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an electron supply surface;
an insulator layer formed on the electron supply surface and having a first opening defined within;
an adhesion layer disposed on the insulator layer, the adhesion layer defining a second opening aligned with the first opening;
a conductive layer disposed on adhesion layer and defining a third opening aligned with the first and second openings;
a tunneling layer formed over the electron supply layer within the first, second, and third openings; and
a cathode layer disposed on the tunneling layer and portions of the conductive layer, wherein the portion of the cathode layer on the tunneling layer has nanohole-sized openings providing electron emission sites. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39)
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41. An emitter, comprising:
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an emitting surface having a first area, the emitter surface having cathode surface with nanohole-sized emission site openings;
a first chamber having substantially parallel sidewalls interfacing to the emitting surface; and
a second chamber interfacing to the first chamber and having sidewalls diverging to an opening having a second area larger than the first area. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. An integrated circuit, comprising:
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a conductive surface to provide an electron supply;
at least one emitter formed on the electron supply including, an insulator layer having at least one opening to define the location and shape of the at least one flat emitter device, a conductive layer disposed over the insulator layer, the conductive layer having at least one opening in alignment with the at least one opening;
a tunneling layer disposed within the at least one opening of the insulator layer; and
a cathode layer disposed partially over the conductive layer and over the tunneling layer, wherein at least the portion of the cathode layer over the tunneling layer has nanohole-sized openings. - View Dependent Claims (49, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A method for creating an emitter on an electron supply, comprising the steps of:
forming a tunneling emitter using semiconductor thin-film layers on the electron supply, at least one of the thin-film layers being a film characterized as a porous cathode layer having nanohole openings less than about 500 nanometers in one dimension. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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61. A method for creating an emitter on an electron supply, comprising the steps of:
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applying a conductive layer to adhere to an insulator layer disposed on the electron supply, the insulator layer defining an opening to the electron supply;
applying a patterning layer on the conductive layer;
creating an opening in the patterning and conductive layer to the electron supply;
applying a tunneling layer over the patterning layer and the opening;
etching the patterning layer to remove it from under the tunneling layer thereby removing the tunneling layer not disposed in the opening by lift-off from the conductive layer; and
applying a porous cathode layer having nanohole-sized openings on the tunneling layer. - View Dependent Claims (62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 72)
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68. A method for creating an emitter on an electron supply surface, the method comprising the steps of:
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creating an insulator layer on the electron supply surface;
defining an emission area within the insulator layer;
applying an adhesion layer on the insulator layer;
applying a conduction layer on the adhesion layer;
applying a patterning layer on the conduction layer;
creating an opening to the conduction layer in the patterning layer;
etching the conduction layer in the opening to the adhesion layer;
etching the adhesion layer to the electron supply;
applying a tunneling layer over the patterning layer and the opening;
etching the patterning layer beneath the tunneling layer and thereby lifting off the tunneling layer except a portion adhered to the electron supply surface in the opening;
applying a cathode layer over the portion of the tunneling layer and a portion of the conduction layer;
etching the cathode layer; and
creating nanohole-sized openings in the cathode layer. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71)
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Specification