Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
We have fabricated a new three-terminal lateral field emitter structure in which the anode current is limited by the channel current of undoped region. The new device exhibits an excellent stability of the emission current. The field emission characteristics of fabricated device have two modes. In the first mode below 89 V, the mechanism of emission is identical to that of conventional poly-Si emitters and, in the second mode above 89 V, the emission current is limited by the inversion charges in the channel, so stable anode current is maintained. Furthermore, the fabrication process of the device is very simple.