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About the Fowler‐Nordheim Plots of Germanium Field Emitters
Author(s) -
Ernst L.
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
physica status solidi (b)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 109
eISSN - 1521-3951
pISSN - 0370-1972
DOI - 10.1002/pssb.19670240117
Subject(s) - field electron emission , germanium , field (mathematics) , work function , acceptor , materials science , semiconductor , evaporation , electrical resistivity and conductivity , condensed matter physics , current density , optoelectronics , silicon , physics , metal , metallurgy , mathematics , electron , thermodynamics , quantum mechanics , pure mathematics
Fowler‐Nordheim plots are obtained for tips of n‐type Ge with a resistivity of 5 Ωcm at room temperature. Atomically clean tip surfaces are obtained by field evaporation. The field‐current density vs. field strength characteristics are given, using the data obtained by Arthur regarding the field strength necessary for the field evaporation of Ge. These are compared with characteristics computed from Stratton's theory of field emission from semiconductors by using plausible values for the surface states parameters. The comparison shows that for Ge the effective work function for field emission is appreciably higher (≈5.8 eV) than would be expected from the literature. A value of N a < 1.7 × 10 13 cm −2 is found for the density of surface acceptor states.