Fabrication of a sharp Si protrusion with a faceted apex grown from a surface-melted silicon wafer under high electric and magnetic fields: application to field emission electron sources

A silicon (Si) protrusion, grown on a narrow path of a Si(001) wafer by surface melting via resistive heating, was sharpened by applying a local high electric field under a magnetic field during the growth. The electric field caused local stress to the surface-melted Si, which was pulled upward along the field. Consequently, the melted Si formed a sharper protrusion on solidification, with an apex surrounded by {001}, {113}, and {111} facets. The field emission from the protrusions was measured. The onset voltage of the emission from protrusions was lower when they were grown under the electric field. We used Fowler–Nordheim plots to characterize the emission current and voltage conversion factor, β. The results indicated that the application of electric field is beneficial to sharpening Si protrusions grown from Si melt. Such protrusions surrounded by facets are suitable for field emission electron sources with a high local electric field.