The field electron emission characteristics of a p-type Si emitter sharpened by a spirally scanned Ga focused-ion-beam milling process were investigated. Saturated Fowler--Nordheim (F--N) plots, which are unique phenomena of p-type semiconductor emitters, were observed. The slight increase of the emission current in the saturated F--N plots region was discussed in terms of the depletion layer width in which electron generation occurs. The temperature dependence of the field electron emission current was also discussed. The activation energy of carrier generation was determined to be 0.26,eV, ascribable to the surface states that accompany the defects introduced by the Ga ion beam. When the emitter was irradiated by a 650-nm-wavelength laser, the increase in the emission current, i.e., the photoexcited emission current, was observed in the saturated region of the F--N plots. The photoexcited emission current was proportional to the laser intensity.

A carbonaceous thin film was deposited on a tungsten single emitter by electrolysis of liquid methanol. The carbonaceous single emitter was thermally treated under vacuum conditions, and changes in its field emission characteristics were examined. The field emission characteristics obeyed the Fowler–Nordheim relationship for all annealing temperatures. The turn-on voltage decreased from 1640 V to 790 V with annealing up to 1373 K.

The thermionic emission properties of diamond micropowders were investigated. The thermionic emission current was observed at a low temperature of 702 K, and a work function of approximately 1.97 eV was obtained. Band bending in diamond micropowders induced by an applied electric field had a considerable influence on decreasing the work function.

Finely textured structures on a silicon surface were fabricated to act as field emitters via simple sandblasting using fine Al2O3 particles. Tests confirmed that the finely nicked structures function well as efficient field emitters. The emission current obeys the Fowler-Nordheim relationship, with a low electric field threshold. The fluctuation of the emission current was inversely proportional to the square root of the average emission current, and the long-term drift of the emission current was about 1% per hour at the average emission current of 108µA in the pressure range of 10-5Pa, indicating that the emitter offers a stable current output.

The effect of annealing on the field emission characteristics of a field emitter comprising diamond micropowder was investigated. The threshold voltage Vth at which the emission current begins to flow decreased as the annealing temperature increased, and a minimum Vth was obtained at an annealing temperature of 1345K. The reduction in threshold voltage was due to a reduction in the work function with annealing.

A GeSi avalanche photodetector grown on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) passive waveguide is demonstrated. The absorption layer of the detector consisits of alternating layers of 66 Ge0. 44Si0. 56 and 480 Si on SOI substrate. The thick SOI waveguide couples the light from an optical fiber into the GeSi/Si strain-limited thin absorption region. The detector exhibits low dark current, sharp breakdown and an external responsivity of 0. 2 A/W at 1. 3 µm wavelength.

A Si metal insulator semiconductor tunnel emitter transistor (Si MIS TET) which is a new type of bipolar transistor was fabricated and its electrical properties for the temperature range of 100 K - 300 K were investigated. The common emitter mode current gain obtained was 75 at 300 K and 74 at 100 K. It was confirmed by measuring the temperature dependence of the base current that the inversion base layer indeed functioned as a base of the Si MIS TET. The current gain of the Si MIS TET did not decrease at low temperature of 100 K, though the current gain of the conventional Si bipolar transistor decreases at low temperature due to the emitter bandgap narrowing in heavily doped emitter. This origin was that the carrier injection mechanism between the emitter and the base was tunneling.