Vertical microelectronic field emission devices
First Claim
1. A microelectronic field emitter comprising:
- a substrate;
an elongated vertical pillar on said substrate, extending therefrom, said pillar having a wall, a resistive bottom portion adjacent said substrate and a conductive top portion opposite said substrate;
an electron emitting element on said conductive top portion;
an insulating layer on said substrate, extending adjacent said wall; and
at least one electrode on said insulating layer, extending proximate to said electron emitting element, for extracting electrons therefrom.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vertical microelectronic field emitter includes a conductive top portion and a resistive bottom portion in an elongated column which extends vertically from a horizontal substrate. An emitting electrode may be formed at the base of the column, and an extraction electrode may be formed adjacent the top of the column. The elongated column reduces the parasitic capacitance of the microelectronic field emitter to provide high speed operation, while providing uniform column-to-column resistance. The field emitter may be formed by first forming tips on the face of a substrate and then forming trenches in the substrate around the tips to form columns in the substrate, with the tips lying on top of the columns. The trenches are filled with a dielectric and a conductor layer is formed on the dielectric. Alternatively, trenches may be formed in the face of the substrate with the trenches defining columns in the substrate. Then, tips are formed on top of the columns. The trenches are filled with dielectric and the conductor layer is formed on the dielectric to form the extraction electrodes.
283 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A microelectronic field emitter comprising:
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a substrate; an elongated vertical pillar on said substrate, extending therefrom, said pillar having a wall, a resistive bottom portion adjacent said substrate and a conductive top portion opposite said substrate; an electron emitting element on said conductive top portion; an insulating layer on said substrate, extending adjacent said wall; and at least one electrode on said insulating layer, extending proximate to said electron emitting element, for extracting electrons therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A microelectronic field emitter array comprising:
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a substrate; an array of elongated vertical pillars on said substrate, orthogonally extending therefrom, each pillar having a wall, a conductive top portion opposite said substrate and a resistive bottom portion adjacent said substrate; an electron emitting element on said each top portion; an insulating layer on said substrate, between said vertical pillars, extending adjacent said walls; an extraction electrode on said insulating layer, extending parallel to said substrate, and proximate to said electron emitting element; and an emitter address line electrode adjacent said resistive bottom portion and electrically connected thereto, extending parallel to said substrate. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 34)
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26. A microelectronic field emitter comprising:
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a substrate; an elongated vertical pillar on said substrate, extending therefrom, said pillar having a wall, a top portion comprising an electron emitting element, a resistive bottom portion adjacent said substrate and a conductive intermediate portion between said resistive bottom portion and said top portion; an insulating layer on said substrate, extending adjacent said wall; and at least one electrode on said insulating layer, extending proximate to said electron emitting element, for extracting electrons therefrom. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A microelectronic field emitter array comprising:
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a substrate; an array of elongated vertical pillars on said substrate, orthogonally extending therefrom, each pillar having a wall, a top portion comprising an electron emitting element, a conductive intermediate portion between said top portion and said substrate and a resistive bottom portion between said intermediate portion and said substrate; an insulating layer on said substrate, between said vertical pillars, extending adjacent said walls; an extraction electrode on said insulating layer, extending parallel to said substrate, and proximate to said electron emitting element; and an emitter address line electrode adjacent said resistive bottom portion and electrically connected thereto, extending parallel to said substrate. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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Specification