title: Field-Induced Crystalline-to-Amorphous Phase Transformation on the Si Nano-Apex and the Achieving of Highly Reliable Si Nano-Cathodes.
abstract: Nano-scale vacuum channel transistors possess merits of higher cutoff frequency and greater gain power as compared with the conventional solid-state transistors. The improvement in cathode reliability is one of the major challenges to obtain high performance vacuum channel transistors. We report the experimental findings and the physical insight into the field induced crystalline-to-amorphous phase transformation on the surface of the Si nano-cathode. The crystalline Si tip apex deformed to amorphous structure at a low macroscopic field (0.6~1.65 V/nm) with an ultra-low emission current (1~10 pA). First-principle calculation suggests that the strong electrostatic force exerting on the electrons in the surface lattices would take the account for the field-induced atomic migration that result in an amorphization. The arsenic-dopant in the Si surface lattice would increase the inner stress as well as the electron density, leading to a lower amorphization field. Highly reliable Si nano-cathodes were obtained by employing diamond like carbon coating to enhance the electron emission and thus decrease the surface charge accumulation. The findings are crucial for developing highly reliable Si-based nano-scale vacuum channel transistors and have the significance for future Si nano-electronic devices with narrow separation.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, School of Physics and Engineering.
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, School of Physics and Engineering.
authors.forename: Zexiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, School of Physics and Engineering.
authors.forename: Weiliang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Instrumental Analysis and Research Centre, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chaolun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, School of Physics and Engineering.|Sun Yat-sen University-Carnegie Mellon University (SYSU-CMU) Shunde International Joint Research Institute, Shunde, 528300, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Juncong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: She
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, School of Physics and Engineering.
authors.forename: Shaozhi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Display Material and Technology, School of Physics and Engineering.
authors.forename: Ningsheng
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Xu