An oxygen induced sharpening process of field emitter tips, W〈111〉, for use in a scanning tunneling microscope aligned field emission microcolumn system has been developed. The sharpening process which depends on processing temperature and oxygen pressure can be used to control tip radius accurately with reliability and reproducibility. The measured tungsten removal rate was ∼13 Å/min at a processing temperature of ≂1650 K and at an oxygen pressure of ≂4×10−5 Torr. The process is primarily intended for more accurate control of the tip radius and hence performance of newly etched tips, although damaged or blunt tips can also be resharpened in situ with this process. Favorable emission characteristics of the oxygen processed tips have been observed with microcolumn operation: (1) reasonably stable emission current, (2) low extraction voltage, (3) reproducible threefold symmetric emission patterns, and (4) small emission angle.
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November 1993
This content was originally published in
Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures Processing, Measurement, and Phenomena
Proceedings of the 16th international symposium on electron, ion, and photon beams
1−3 Jun 1993
San Diego, California (USA)
Research Article|
November 01 1993
Oxygen processed field emission tips for microcolumn applications
H. S. Kim;
H. S. Kim
IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
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M. L. Yu;
M. L. Yu
IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
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U. Staufer;
U. Staufer
Institute of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, 4056 Basel, Switzerland
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L. P. Muray;
L. P. Muray
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720
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D. P. Kern;
D. P. Kern
IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
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T. H. P. Chang
T. H. P. Chang
IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598
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J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 11, 2327–2331 (1993)
Article history
Received:
July 09 1993
Accepted:
August 05 1993
Citation
H. S. Kim, M. L. Yu, U. Staufer, L. P. Muray, D. P. Kern, T. H. P. Chang; Oxygen processed field emission tips for microcolumn applications. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 1 November 1993; 11 (6): 2327–2331. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.586981
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