PROJECT DETAILS
| Name: |
|
Electron and ion emission from point contacts on solids |
| From: |
|
2004-01-01 |
|
| To: |
|
2007-12-31 |
Electron, ion and photoemission from solids with a high dielectric constant (many of them are
ferroelectrics) has been intensively investigated in last years in view of a possible application
as efficient cold cathodes. The mechanism of emission has not been fully clarified yet and there are
several processes which may be relevant. From the physical point of view the most interesting and less
explored is the Coulomb explosion mechanism. Very probably the negative ion emission, for the first
time observed by the investigator (6), is of this origin. It was the purpose of this project to
investigate in detail the electron and ion emission using a well defined metal contact with the
radius below 1 micrometer, using ultrashort (subns) unipolar or bipolar voltage pulses for the
excitation of emission and the time-of-flight spectrometer for the time and mass analysis of
emitted particles with a high resolution. Computer simulation of the emission dynamics will
complement the experiments.
