Lesson plan
Field emitter array
(SiC) Field Emitter made by NIST in 2013. It produces a flow of electrons comparable to thermionic emission but without a need for destructive heat. It was made by etching some material away to make a porous structure with a large surface area. As an electron emission point on an individual spike wears out, another is available to replace it, making the array more durable. A field emitter array (FEA) is a particular form of large-area field electron source. FEAs are prepared on a silicon substrate by lithographic techniques similar to those used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Their structure consists of many individual, similar, small-field electron emitters, usually organized in a regular two-dimensional pattern. FEAs need to be distinguished from "film" or "mat" type large-area sources, where a thin film-like layer of material is deposited onto a substrate, using a uniform deposition process, in the hope or expectation that (as a result of statistical irregularities in the process) this film will contain a sufficiently large number of individual emission sites.
Article summary
(SiC) Field Emitter made by NIST in 2013. It produces a flow of electrons comparable to thermionic emission but without a need for destructive heat. It was made by etching some material away to make a porous structure with a large surface area. As an electron emission point on an individual spike wears out, another is available to replace it, making the array more durable. A field emitter array (FEA) is a particular form of large-area field electron source. FEAs are prepared on a silicon substrate by lithographic techniques similar to those used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Their structure consists of many individual, similar, small-field electron emitters, usually organized in a regular two-dimensional pattern. FEAs need to be distinguished from "film" or "mat" type large-area sources, where a thin film-like layer of material is deposited onto a substrate, using a uniform deposition process, in the hope or expectation that (as a result of statistical irregularities in the process) this film will contain a sufficiently large number of individual emission sites.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.