Universal characteristics of resonant-tunneling field emission from nanostructured surfaces

TL;DR

This paper investigates how resonant tunneling influences field emission from nanostructured semiconductor surfaces, combining theoretical predictions with experimental validation to reveal characteristic current-voltage behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces a unified analytical model predicting specific line shapes for resonant tunneling in nanostructured field emitters, supported by experimental observations.

Findings

Resonant tunneling significantly alters emission characteristics.

Power-law and Lorentzian line shapes are observed.

Theoretical predictions match experimental data.

Abstract

We have performed theoretical and experimental studies of field emission from nanostructured semiconductor cathodes. Resonant tunneling through electric-field-induced interface bound states is found to strongly affect the field-emission characteristics. Our analytical theory predicts power-law and Lorentzian-shaped current-voltage curves for resonant-tunneling field emission from three-dimensional substrates and two-dimensional accumulation layers, respectively. These predicted line shapes are observed in field emission characteristics from self-assembled silicon nanostructures. A simple model describes formation of an accumulation layer and of the resonant level in these systems.