Strong deviations from Fowler-Nordheim behavior for field emission from individual SiC nanowires due to restricted bulk carrier generation

M. Choueib, A. Ayari, P. Vincent, M. Bechelany, D. Cornu, and S. T. Purcell

Phys. Rev. B 79, 075421 – Published 11 February 2009

Abstract

We report here field-emission (FE) studies of individual single-crystal SiC nanowires that showed several distinct $I / V$ regimes including strong saturation resulting in highly nonlinear Fowler-Nordheim plots. The saturation is due to the formation of a depletion layer near the nanowire ends as predicted for FE from semiconductors and appears after in situ control of the surface cleanliness. This work opens the door to improving the uniformity, stability, and photon control of mass-produced planar nanowire FE cathodes and shows how FE can be used for transport measurements on individual semiconducting nanowires.

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Received 15 July 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.79.075421

Authors & Affiliations

M. Choueib^1,2, A. Ayari¹, P. Vincent¹, M. Bechelany², D. Cornu², and S. T. Purcell^1,*

¹Université de Lyon, F-69000, France and Laboratoire PMCN, CNRS, UMR 5586, Université Lyon 1, F–69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
²Laboratoire des Multimatériaux et Interfaces, UMR 5615, CNRS, Université Lyon 1 and Université de Lyon, 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, F-69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

^*stephen.purcell@lpmcn.univ-lyon1.fr

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Vol. 79, Iss. 7 — 15 February 2009

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