Metallic glass as a field electron emitter

Field electron emission characteristics and the field emission current stability of a metallic glass Fe₇₀Si₁₀Cr₅B₁₅ emitter are studied. Field evaporation is found to improve the current stability and reduce the emission noise. The fractional change in the current upon long-term operation ( Delta I/I) in the case of the metallic glass emitter is found to be 20% and 2% before and after field evaporation respectively. The corresponding change in the current for the thermally clean tungsten field emitter operated under similar conditions is found to be 16%. Field electron and ion microscopy (FEM and FIM) of the metallic glass specimen is carried out to investigate the effect of field evaporation on the emission current. The improved stability of the metallic glass field emitter has been attributed to surface conditioning upon field evaporation.