A physical simulation model for field emission triode

Abstract

A simple but accurate physical model, which can be incorporated into circuit simulation programs such as SPICE for the field emission triode (FET), is developed. The model is based on the Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) current density-electric field (J-E) relationship. An electric field form is adopted to calculate the current density distribution along the surface of the sphere-shape tip. The cathode current is obtained by integration of the current density over the emission surface. The gate current is derived by the same integration, but over part of the emission area. A procedure to extract the values for the parameters of the model is also given. The model and the procedure has been applied to experimental devices to demonstrate its accuracy.