Fabrication of volcano emitters using chemical mechanical polishing (CMP)

Volcano emitters with gate dimensions of 6, 9, 15, 25, and 50 /spl mu/m have been processed using chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) for the removal of the emitter material and the gate-to-emitter dielectric on top of the gate plateau. Devices were fabricated with Cr, Cr-cermet, TiW/Au, SiC, and SiC/TiW/Au as the emitter materials and with 1 /spl mu/m spacings between the emitter rims and the silicon gates. The gate post heights ranged from 4 to 6 /spl mu/m. Measurements of single volcano SiC and SiC/TiW/Au emitters showed that the emission current scales with the periphery of the devices. CMP offers a readily scaleable process for the manufacturing of large area FEDs.