A field emission neutralizer is provided. The field emission neutralizer comprises a bottom plate and at least one field emission cathode unit located on the bottom plate. The field emission cathode unit comprises a substrate, a shell located on the substrate, a mesh grid, a shielding layer insulated and spaced from the mesh grid, and at least one cathode emitter located inside the shell, and insulated and spaced from the mesh grid. The cathode emitter comprises two cathode electrode sheets and a graphitized carbon nanotube structure, the graphitized carbon nanotube structure comprises a first portion and a second portion, the first portion is clamped between the two cathode electrode sheets, and the second portion is exposed outside of the two cathode electrode sheets.

A method of producing an electron emitting device includes: step A of providing an aluminum substrate or providing an aluminum layer supported by a substrate; step B of anodizing a surface of the aluminum substrate or a surface of the aluminum layer to form a porous alumina layer having a plurality of pores; step C of applying Ag nanoparticles in the plurality of pores to allow the Ag nanoparticles to be supported in the plurality of pores; step D of, after step C, applying a dielectric layer-forming solution onto substantially the entire surface of the aluminum substrate or the aluminum layer, the dielectric layer-forming solution containing, in an amount of not less than 7 mass % but less than 20 mass %, a polymerization product having siloxane bonds; step E of, after step D, at least reducing a solvent contained in the dielectric layer-forming solution to form the dielectric layer; and step F of forming an electrode on the dielectric layer.

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing an emitter in which the tip of the emitter can be formed into a desired shape even when various materials are used for the emitter. The method includes performing an electrolytic polishing process of polishing a front end of a conductive emitter material so that a diameter of the front end is gradually reduced toward a tip; performing a first etching process by irradiating a processing portion of the emitter material processed by the electrolytic polishing process with a charged particle beam; performing a sputtering process by irradiating the pointed portion formed by the first etching process with a focused ion beam; and performing a secondary etching process of further sharpening the tip by an electric field induced gas etching processing while observing a crystal structure of the tip of the pointed portion processed by the sputtering process using a field ion microscope.

A triple-point cathode coating and method wherein electrically conductive NEA diamond particles cast or mixed with the adhesive medium and electrically insulative NEA diamond particles are cast or mixed with the adhesive medium to form a plurality of exposed junctions between electrically conductive diamond particles and electrically insulative diamond particles to reduce any electrical charges on a structure coated with the coating.

A method of preparing tunable inorganic patterned nanofeatures by infiltration of a block copolymer scaffold having a plurality of self-assembled periodic polymer microdomains. The method may be used sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS), related to atomic layer deposition (ALD). The method includes selecting a metal precursor that is configured to selectively react with the copolymer unit defining the microdomain but is substantially non-reactive with another polymer unit of the copolymer. A tunable inorganic features is selectively formed on the microdomain to form a hybrid organic/inorganic composite material of the metal precursor and a co-reactant. The organic component may be optionally removed to obtain an inorganic feature s with patterned nanostructures defined by the configuration of the microdomain.

Provided are an electron emission device having a novel structure and being capable of improving characteristics and/or extending a lifetime of a related-art electron emission device, and a method of manufacturing the electron emission device. The method of manufacturing an electron emission device includes: a step A of providing one of an aluminum substrate and an aluminum layer supported by a substrate; a step B of anodizing a surface of the one of the aluminum, substrate and the aluminum layer to form a porous alumina layer having a plurality of pores; a step C of applying silver nanoparticles into the plurality of pores to cause the plurality of pores to support the silver nanoparticles; a step D of applying, after the step C, an insulating layer forming solution to substantially an entire surface of the one of the aluminum substrate and the aluminum layer; a step E of forming, after the step D, an insulating layer by at least reducing a solvent included in the insulating layer forming solution; and a step F of forming an electrode on the insulating layer.

A method is disclosed for producing an electron emitter (1) with a component surface (3) of which is coated with a coating (2) that contains nanorods (4, 7), in particular carbon nanotubes. According to said method, an elastomer film is applied and is then peeled off to obtain a surface from which carbon nanotubes (7) with an upright orientation project upward from an inorganic and electrically conductive adhesive layer (5). In another example, an overall coating region of the electron emitter (1) has an average number (n) of carbon nanotubes (7) with a predominantly upright orientation that project upward from the electrically conductive adhesive layer (5), the number of nanotubes (7) with a predominantly upright orientation per mm.sup.2 protruding from the adhesive layer deviating from the average value (n) by not more than 25% for each partial coating region of a size of at least 10.sup.8 mm.sup.2.

Nanoscale field-emission devices are presented, wherein the devices include at least a pair of electrodes separated by a gap through which field emission of electrons from one electrode to the other occurs. The gap is dimensioned such that only a low voltage is required to induce field emission. As a result, the emitted electrons energy that is below the ionization potential of the gas or gasses that reside within the gap. In some embodiments, the gap is small enough that the distance between the electrodes is shorter than the mean-free path of electrons in air at atmospheric pressure. As a result, the field-emission devices do not require a vacuum environment for operation.

A field emission transistor includes a gate, a fold over emitter, and fold over collector. The emitter and the collector are separated from the gate by a void and are separated from a gate contact by gate contact dielectric. The void may be a vacuum, ambient air, or a gas. Respective ends of the emitter and the collector are separated by a gap. Electrons are drawn across gap from the emitter to the collector by an electrostatic field created when a voltage is applied to the gate. The emitter and collector include a first conductive portion substantially parallel with gate and a second conductive portion substantially perpendicular with gate. The second conductive portion may be formed by bending a segment of the first conductive portion. The second conductive portion is folded inward from the first conductive portion towards the gate. Respective second conductive portions are generally aligned.

In order to provide a stable hexaboride single-crystal field emission electron source capable of heat-flashing, this field emission electron source is provided with a metal filament, a metal tube joined thereto, a hexaboride tip that emits electrons, and graphite sheets that are independent of the metal tube and the hexaboride tip. The hexaboride tip is arranged so as not to be in structural contact with the metal tube due to the graphite sheets. The hexaboride tip, the graphite sheets, and the metal tube are configured so as to be mechanically and electrically in contact with one another.