Diamond electron emission

Diamond films with good electron emission properties show great potential for applications such as electron sources. For single-crystalline diamond, the negative electron affinity at hydrogen-terminated surfaces enables efficient emission of conduction electrons into vacuum. Although electrons are not naturally present in the diamond conduction band, p–n junction diode structures make this possible; electrons are injected from n -type diamond to the conduction band of p -type diamond, giving rise to electron emission with efficiencies exceeding 1%. Alternatively, impacting electron beams can be used to inject “secondary” electrons into the conduction band, resulting in high emission gain. For ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) films with versatile granular structure, enhanced electron field emission (EFE) properties can be achieved by altering the granular structure of the films. Utilization of nanoscale tips as templates for growing UNCD film or direct reactive ion etching of the film further enhances their EFE behavior. On the other hand, the release of electrons through application of thermal energy can be utilized in a thermionic energy converter to directly transform heat into electricity. With the addition of ion current from doped diamond emitters to the thermionic electron current, power output enhancement of the converter can be realized.