Affiliation:
1. Advanced Technology Institute and Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
2. Ioffe Institute, ul. Politekhnicheskaya 26, Saint Petersburg 194021, Russia
Abstract
For field electron emission (FE), an empirical equation for measured current
I
m
as a function of measured voltage
V
m
has the form
I
m
=
CV
m
k
exp[–
B
/
V
m
], where
B
is a constant and
C
and
k
are constants or vary weakly with
V
m
. Values for
k
can be extracted (i) from simulations based on some specific FE theory, and in principle (ii) from current–voltage measurements of sufficiently high quality. This paper shows that a comparison of theoretically derived and experimentally derived
k-
values could provide a sensitive and useful tool for comparing FE theory and experiment, and for choosing between alternative theories. Existing methods of extracting
k
-values from experimental or simulated current–voltage data are discussed, including a modernized ‘least residual’ method, and existing knowledge concerning
k
-values is summarized. Exploratory simulations are reported. Where an analytical result for
k
is independently known, this value is reliably extracted. More generally, extracted
k
-values are sensitive to details of the emission theory used, but also depend on assumed emitter shape; these two influences will need to be disentangled by future research, and a range of emitter shapes will need examination. Other procedural conclusions are reported. Some scientific issues that this new tool may eventually be able to help investigate are indicated.
Cited by
16 articles.
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