Analysis of slope-intercept plots for arrays of electron field emitters

TL;DR

This paper investigates the linear relationships in Fowler-Nordheim plots for electron emitters, revealing that parameter distributions and emitter count variations can explain observed shifts, challenging traditional interpretations.

Contribution

It demonstrates through simulations that distributions of tip radii and emitter numbers can produce linear slope-intercept plots, offering new insights into their interpretation.

Findings

Linear relationships arise from parameter distributions.

Emitter count variations can mimic work function shifts.

Simulation results challenge traditional analysis assumptions.

Abstract

In electron field emission experiments, a linear relationship in plots of slope vs. intercept obtained from Fowler-Nordheim analysis is commonly observed for single tips or tip arrays. By simulating samples with many tips, it is shown here that the observed linear relationship results from the distribution of input parameters, assuming a log-normal distribution for the radius of each tip. Typically, a shift from the lower-left to the upper-right of a slope-intercept plot has been correlated with a shift in work function. However, as shown in this paper, the same effect can result from a variation in the number of emitters.