中国物理B ›› 2022, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (5): 58504-058504.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/ac464d

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Thermionic electron emission in the 1D edge-to-edge limit

Tongyao Zhang(张桐耀)1,2, Hanwen Wang(王汉文)3, Xiuxin Xia(夏秀鑫)3, Chengbing Qin(秦成兵)2,4, and Xiaoxi Li(李小茜)1,2,†   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Opto-Electronics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China;
    2 Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China;
    3 Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China;
    4 State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
  • 收稿日期:2021-10-19 修回日期:2021-12-22 发布日期:2022-04-09
  • 通讯作者: Xiaoxi Li,E-mail:xiaoxili1987@gmail.com E-mail:xiaoxili1987@gmail.com
  • 基金资助:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.12004389,12004288,and 12104462) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant Nos.2020M68036 and 2021T140430).Xiaoxi Li acknowledges the support from the Joint Research Fund of Liaoning-Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science (Grant No.2019JH3/30100031).Hanwen Wang acknowledges the support from the IMR Innovation Fund (Grant No.2021-PY17).

Thermionic electron emission in the 1D edge-to-edge limit

Tongyao Zhang(张桐耀)1,2, Hanwen Wang(王汉文)3, Xiuxin Xia(夏秀鑫)3, Chengbing Qin(秦成兵)2,4, and Xiaoxi Li(李小茜)1,2,†   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Opto-Electronics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China;
    2 Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China;
    3 Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China;
    4 State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics Devices, Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
  • Received:2021-10-19 Revised:2021-12-22 Published:2022-04-09
  • Contact: Xiaoxi Li,E-mail:xiaoxili1987@gmail.com E-mail:xiaoxili1987@gmail.com
  • About author:2021-12-24
  • Supported by:
    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.12004389,12004288,and 12104462) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant Nos.2020M68036 and 2021T140430).Xiaoxi Li acknowledges the support from the Joint Research Fund of Liaoning-Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science (Grant No.2019JH3/30100031).Hanwen Wang acknowledges the support from the IMR Innovation Fund (Grant No.2021-PY17).

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摘要： Thermionic emission is a tunneling phenomenon, which depicts that electrons on the surface of a conductor can be pulled out into the vacuum when they are subjected to high electrical tensions while being heated hot enough to overtake their work functions. This principle has led to the great success of the so-called vacuum tubes in the early 20th century. To date, major challenges still remain in the miniaturization of a vacuum channel transistor for on-chip integration in modern solid-state integrated circuits. Here, by introducing nano-sized vacuum gaps (～ 200 nm) in a van der Waals heterostructure, we successfully fabricated a one-dimensional (1D) edge-to-edge thermionic emission vacuum tube using graphene as the filament. With the increasing collector voltage, the emitted current exhibits a typical rectifying behavior, with the maximum emission current reaching 200 pA and an ON-OFF ratio of 103. In addition, it is found that the maximum emission current is proportional to the number of the layers of graphene. Our results expand the research of nano-sized vacuum tubes to an unexplored physical limit of 1D edge-to-edge emission, and hold great promise for future nano-electronic systems based on it.

关键词: vacuum microelectronics, thermionic emission, graphene, electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures

Abstract: Thermionic emission is a tunneling phenomenon, which depicts that electrons on the surface of a conductor can be pulled out into the vacuum when they are subjected to high electrical tensions while being heated hot enough to overtake their work functions. This principle has led to the great success of the so-called vacuum tubes in the early 20th century. To date, major challenges still remain in the miniaturization of a vacuum channel transistor for on-chip integration in modern solid-state integrated circuits. Here, by introducing nano-sized vacuum gaps (～ 200 nm) in a van der Waals heterostructure, we successfully fabricated a one-dimensional (1D) edge-to-edge thermionic emission vacuum tube using graphene as the filament. With the increasing collector voltage, the emitted current exhibits a typical rectifying behavior, with the maximum emission current reaching 200 pA and an ON-OFF ratio of 103. In addition, it is found that the maximum emission current is proportional to the number of the layers of graphene. Our results expand the research of nano-sized vacuum tubes to an unexplored physical limit of 1D edge-to-edge emission, and hold great promise for future nano-electronic systems based on it.

Key words: vacuum microelectronics, thermionic emission, graphene, electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures

中图分类号:  (Vacuum microelectronics)

  • 85.45.-w
81.05.ue (Graphene) 73.63.-b (Electronic transport in nanoscale materials and structures) 79.40.+z (Thermionic emission)