Effects of Thickness, Pulse Duration, and Size of Strip Electrode on Ferroelectric Electron Emission of Lead Zirconate Titanate Films

Sol-gel-derived lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin-film emitters with thickness up to 9.8 mu m have been prepared on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si wafer via chemical solution deposition with/without polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) modification, and the relationship between the film thickness and electron emission investigated. Notable electron emission was observed on application of a trigger voltage of 120 V for PZT film with thickness of 1.1 mu m. Increasing the film thickness decreased the threshold field to initiate electron emission for non-PVP-modified films. In contrast, the electron emission behavior of PVP-modified films did not show significant dependence on film thickness, probably due to their porous structure. The emission current increased with decreasing strip width and space between strips. Furthermore, it was observed that increasing the duration of the applied pulse increased the magnitude of the emission current. The stray field on the PZT film thickness was also calculated and found to increase with increasing ferroelectric sample thickness. The PZT emitters were found to be fatigue free up to 10(5) emission cycles. Saturated emission current of around 25 mA to 30 mA was achieved for the electrode pattern used in this work.