Description
Vacuum electronic devices offer unique advantages, including ballistic electron transport, high-frequency operation, and robustness under extreme environments. However, their practical implementation in miniaturized systems is often limited by high operating voltages and the need for complex strategies to control electron emission. Recently, light-assisted field emission has emerged as a promising route to enhance electron extraction efficiency, yet most approaches rely on high-power laser sources, restricting their scalability and integration.
In this work, we demonstrate a novel planar electron emission platform based on circular arrays of nanoscale vacuum channel devices (NVCDs), combined with LED-assisted field emission for low-power optical enhancement. The circular electrode architecture enables lithographically defined nanoscale vacuum gaps, where a symmetric radial electric-field distribution supports controlled and spatially uniform electron emission. The gate-modulated planar geometry further allows precise tuning of the local field.
To further enhance emission efficiency, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are employed as an energy-efficient optical excitation source. The LED illumination provides an additional optical contribution to the emission process, enabling light-assisted enhancement under low-power conditions and offering a scalable alternative to laser-driven schemes.
These results indicate strong potential for circular NVCD-based planar electron sources, combined with LED illumination, as a scalable and low-power platform for compact electron-beam systems and future integrated vacuum electronic devices.
| I am the presenting author | Yes |
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