Analytical Model for Electrical Field at Ultrathin Field Emitter

Abstract

The potential barrier near the apex of an ultrathin edge field emitter is defined using an analytical model. It is used to simulate electron tunnelling from the emitter numerically. The results show that for an ultrathin emitter, the traditional approximation of a uniform field near the edge is inappropriate. The proposed method is better suited to modelling field emission from nano-sized cold cathodes. The findings apply to nano-sized cold cathode structures, including graphene field emitters.