A field-emission pressure sensor of nano-crystalline silicon film

The prototype of a field-emission pressure sensor with a novel structure based on the quantum tunnel effect is designed and manufactured, where a cathode emitter array is fabricated on the same silicon plate as the sensible film. For an integrated structure, not only the alignment and vacuum bonding between the anode and cathode are easy to be realized, but also a fine sensibility is guaranteed. For example, the measured current density emitted from the effective area of the sensor can reach 53.5 A/m2 when the exterior electric field is 5.6 x 105 V/m. Furthermore, it is demonstrated by finite element method simulation that the reduction in sensor sensitivity caused by emitters on the sensible film is negligible. The difference between the maximum deflections of the sensible films with and without emitters under specified pressure is less than 0.4 %. Therefore, it can be concluded that the novel field-emission sensor structure is reasonable.