Field Emission Tip Array Fabrication Utilizing Geometrical Hindrance in the Oxidation of Si

Sharpness of field emitter tips is one of the key factors to achieve excellent field emission performance. In order to sharpen the tips to atomic scale, a new method combining the bottom-up process of wafer-scale nanopattern formation via self-assembly of diblock copolymer with the top-down process of anisotropic etching of Si followed by nanocasting is developed. Geometrical hindrance in the oxidation of Si at nanometer scale is exploited to further sharpen the field emission tips.