Synthesis of lithography free micro-nano electron field emitters using pulsed KrF laser assisted metal induced crystallization of thin silicon films

Hydrogenated amorphous thin silicon films (a-Si:H) deposited on metal coated glass substrates were investigated to analyze the effect of a novel processing technique called Laser Assisted Metal Induced Crystallization (LAMIC) on their electron field emission (FE) properties. Post-surface characterization of the processed films showed increased surface roughness and the presence of uniformly spaced “island-like” micro-nano structures on the surface of metal coated backplane samples. Best FE results were obtained from samples sputtered with a thin layer of Aluminum (Al) on top and cross laser annealed at 190 mJ/cm² (y-axis) and 100 mJ/cm² (x-axis). FE measurements indicate a low turn-on electric field of less than 16 V/µm with emission currents in the order of 10⁻⁶ A. FE results were found to be particularly dependent on the laser fluence and the surface morphology exhibited very high discharge resistance. Oxidation of the films was observed to deteriorate their FE characteristics, thereby increasing the emission threshold to 36 V/µm. Diode configured field emission display prototypes are fabricated to exemplify their potential as cold cathode emitters.