MoS2 Based Field Emitters for Vacuum Nano Electronics Device Applications

In several significant scientific and technological applications, such as e-beam lithography, X-ray generators, electron microscopy, microwave amplifiers, etc., electron sources are important. Excessive power consumption, reduced emission currents and decreased durability resulting from prolonged emitter heating thermionic electron sources need to be replaced. Two-dimensional (2D) materials are one of the most promising field emitters among the various nanostructures as field emitters. This chapter deals with an introduction to the field electron emission technique along with its basic principles and applications using MoS2 as emitters. When a strong electric field is present, electrons from the condensed phase escape into the vacuum phase. This phenomenon is known as field electron emission (typically 106–107 V/cm). Such high electrostatic fields are normally produced by employing a very sharp tip in one-dimensional nanotubes with a tip diameter of <50 nm, exhibiting promising field emission properties. Whereas, the high electrostatic field in two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials like MoS2 is produced at sharp or nanometric edges, which are primarily responsible for boosting the electric field. This chapter covered the fundamentals of field electron emission, the history of field emitters and field emission systems based on MoS2.