Abstract
In a microwave tube the energy of electrons in an electron beam, which are usually generated by a thermionic cathode, is modulated such that it is transformed into electromagnetic wave energy. In this paper, we modulated the field emission using AC signals. A field emission current with AC components was attained by adding a small AC voltage to a high extracting DC voltage. We observed two phenomena related to the AC components of the field emission current. First, when the DC component of the extracting voltage was low, the current measured in the circuit was dominated by the displacement current. Second, besides the fundamental frequency component, higher order harmonics were also observed in the field emission current.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Mittal G, Lahiri I. Recent progress in nanostructured next-generation field emission devices. J Phys D-Appl Phys, 2014, 47: 323001
Xu N S, Huq S E. Novel cold cathode materials and applications. Mater Sci Eng-R-Rep, 2005, 48: 47–189
Chang C T, Chang Y T, Chih Y J, et al. Light-emitting illumination and field emission device of potassium hydroxide-doped electrochemically reduced graphene oxide. IEEE Trans Electron Devices, 2017, 64: 2251–2256
Li Y, Zhang Z, Zhang G, et al. Optimizing the field emission properties of ZnO nanowire arrays by precisely tuning the population density and application in large-area gated field emitter arrays. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2017, 9: 3911–3921
Chen J, Yang B, Liu X, et al. Large field emission current and density from robust carbon nanotube cathodes for continuous and pulsed electron sources. Sci China Mater, 2017, 60: 335–342
Wei X Q, Li X, Liu W H, et al. Laser tuned field emission of the carbon nanotube arrays grown on an optical fiber. Sci China Tech Sci, 2014, 57: 1936–1940
Kim H J, Choi J J, Han J H, et al. Design and field emission test of carbon nanotube pasted cathodes for traveling-wave tube applications. IEEE Trans Electron Devices, 2006, 53: 2674–2680
Nation J A, Schachter L, Mako F M, et al. Advances in cold cathode physics and technology. Proc IEEE, 1999, 87: 865–889
Teo K B K, Minoux E, Hudanski L, et al. Microwave devices: Carbon nanotubes as cold cathodes. Nature, 2005, 437: 968–968
Zhang Y, Deng D, Zhu L, et al. Pulse field emission characteristics of vertical few-layer graphene cold cathode. IEEE Trans Electron Devices, 2014, 61: 1771–1775
Lei W, Zhang X B, Lou C G, et al. Very high field-emission current from a carbon-nanotube cathode with a pulse driving mode. IEEE Electron Device Lett, 2009, 30: 571–573
Yang J, Zhang G M. Behaviors of field emitters under pulsed voltages. Sci China Tech Sci, 2016, 59: 1777–1784
Li X X, Yuan X S, Zhang Y, et al. Theoretical research on electron beam modulation in a field-emission cold cathode electron gun. Chin Phys B, 2014, 23: 037901
Zhou H T, Yu N, Zou F, et al. Controllable preparation of vertically standing graphene sheets and their wettability and supercapacitive properties. Chin Phys B, 2016, 25: 096106
Lee C J, Lee T J, Lyu S C, et al. Field emission from well-aligned zinc oxide nanowires grown at low temperature. Appl Phys Lett, 2002, 81: 3648–3650
Bonard J M, Maier F, Stöckli T, et al. Field emission properties of multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Ultramicroscopy, 1998, 73: 7–15
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yang, J., Zhang, G., Zhou, H. et al. Modulation of field emission by small AC signals. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 60, 1897–1902 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-017-9080-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-017-9080-5