Claims
- 1. A light device, comprising:
an electron supply defining an emitter surface; a cathode layer having at least partial photon transparency substantially uniform across the emitter surface; and a dielectric tunneling layer disposed between the electron supply and the cathode layer.
- 2. The light device of claim 1 wherein the cathode layer has nanohole openings.
- 3. The light device of claim 2 wherein the nanohole openings were formed in an annealing process of the light device.
- 4. The light device of claim 3 wherein the annealing process is performed in an environment containing nitrogen.
- 5. The light device of claim 3 wherein the annealing process subjects the light device to a temperature between about 400 and about 650 degrees C. for about 20 to about 30 minutes.
- 6. The light device of claim 3 wherein the annealing process decreases the tunneling resistance of the dielectric tunneling layer by at least a factor of 2.
- 7. The light device of claim 2 wherein the narrowest dimension of the nanohole openings are on the order of between 1 and 10 nanometers.
- 8. The light device of claim 2 wherein the longest dimension of the nanohole openings are on the order of between 10 and 100 nanometers.
- 9. The light device of claim 2 wherein the nanohole openings are uniformly distributed on average but randomly spaced across the emitting surface of the cathode layer.
- 10. The light device of claim 1 wherein the dielectric tunneling layer is selected from the group consisting of TiOx, silicon rich SiOx, SixNy, TiOxNy, and TiCOxNy.
- 11. The light device of claim 1 wherein the dielectric tunneling layer is deposited on or includes a ballast layer.
- 12. The light device of claim 1 wherein the cathode layer is selected from platinum or gold.
- 13. The light device of claim 1 wherein the cathode layer is a substantially transparent conductor.
- 14. The light device of claim 1 wherein the cathode layer is selected from the group consisting of ZnOx, SnO2, and In2O3:Sn.
- 15. The light device of claim 1 operable to provide an electron emission current of greater than 1×10−2 Amps per square centimeter.
- 16. The light device of claim 1 operable to provide an electron emission current of greater than 1 Amp per square centimeter.
- 17. The light device of claim 1 operable to detect photons.
- 18. The light device of claim 1 wherein the dielectric tunneling layer has a thickness less than about 500 Angstroms.
- 19. An integrated circuit, comprising:
a substrate; the light device of claim 1 disposed on the substrate; and circuitry for operating the light device formed on the substrate with the light device.
- 20. An electronic device, comprising:
the light device of claim 1 capable of emitting photon and electron energy; and an anode structure capable of capturing the electron energy and allowing substantially all of the photon energy to pass through.
- 21. The electronic device of claim 20 wherein the electronic device is a display device and the anode structure is a display screen that creates a visible effect in response to receiving the emitted energy.
- 22. The electronic device of claim 21 wherein the display screen includes one or more phosphors operable for emitting photons in response to receiving the emitted energy.
- 23. A light device, comprising:
an electron supply layer; an insulator layer formed on the electron supply layer and having an opening defined within; a tunneling layer formed over the electron supply layer in the opening; and a cathode layer formed on the tunneling layer having at least partial transparency.
- 24. The light device of claim 23, wherein the cathode layer is a transparent conductor.
- 25. The light device of claim 23, wherein the light device has been subjected to an annealing process to increase the supply of electrons tunneled from the electron supply layer to the cathode layer for energy emission.
- 26. The light device of claim 25 wherein the tunneling layer tunneling resistance has been decreased by at least an order of 2 by the annealing process.
- 27. The light device of claim 23 wherein the light device is capable of detecting photons striking the cathode layer.
- 28. The light device of claim 23, further comprising:
nanohole openings defined within the cathode layer, and wherein the narrowest dimension of the nanohole openings are on the order of about 1 to about 10 nanometers.
- 29. The light device of claim 28 wherein the longest dimension of the nanohole openings are on the order of about 10 to about 100 nanometers.
- 30. The light device of claim 23 wherein the tunneling layer is selected from the group consisting of TiOx, silicon rich SiOx, SixNy, TiOxNy, and TiCOxNy.
- 31. An electronic device, comprising:
an integrated circuit including the light device of claim 23; and a focusing device for converging electrons or photons from or to the light device.
- 32. A computer system, comprising:
a microprocessor; the electronic device of claim 31 coupled to the microprocessor; and memory coupled to the microprocessor, the microprocessor operable of executing instructions from the memory to transfer data between the memory and the electronic device.
- 33. The computer system of claim 32 wherein the electronic device is a communication device.
- 34. The computer system of claim 32 wherein the electronic device is a display device.
- 35. A light device, comprising:
an electron supply surface; an insulator layer formed on the electron supply surface and having a first opening defined within; an adhesion layer disposed on the insulator layer, the adhesion layer defining a second opening aligned with the first opening; a conductive layer disposed on adhesion layer and defining a third opening aligned with the first and second openings; a tunneling layer formed over the electron supply layer within the first, second, and third openings; and a cathode layer disposed on the tunneling layer and portions of the conductive layer, wherein the cathode layer is at least partially transparent to photons.
- 36. The light device of claim 35 wherein the cathode layer has an emission rate of at least 0.1 Amps per square centimeter.
- 37. The light device of claim 35, wherein the cathode layer further comprises nanohole sized openings and wherein the narrowest dimension of the nanohole-sized openings are on the order of about 1 to about 10 nanometers.
- 38. The light device of claim 37, wherein the longest dimension of the nanohole-sized openings are on the order of about 10 to about 100 nanometers.
- 39. The light device of claim 37, wherein the longest dimension of the nanohole-sized openings are on the order of less than 500 nanometers.
- 40. The light device of claim 37 wherein the nanohole-sized openings in the cathode layer are on average uniformly but randomly spaced over the emission surface of the cathode.
- 41. A light device, comprising:
an emitting surface having a first area, the emitter surface having cathode surface that is at least partially transparent to photons; a first chamber having substantially parallel sidewalls interfacing to the emitting surface; and a second chamber interfacing to the first chamber and having sidewalls diverging to an opening having a second area larger than the first area.
- 42. The light device of claim 41, wherein the cathode layer is disposed on the emitting surface, and sidewalls of the first and second chambers and wherein the light device has been subjected to an annealing process thereby increasing the emission capability of the light device.
- 43. The light device of claim 41 wherein the first chamber is formed within an adhesion layer.
- 44. The light device of claim 41 wherein the second chamber is formed within a conductive layer.
- 45. An integrated circuit comprising at least one light device of claim 41.
- 46. A display device comprising at least one light device of claim 41.
- 47. A communication device comprising at least one light device of claim 41.
- 48. A photodetector comprising at least one light device of claim 41.
- 49. An integrated circuit, comprising:
a conductive surface to provide an electron supply; at least one light device formed on the electron supply including,
an insulator layer having at least one opening to define the location and shape of the at least one light device, a conductive layer disposed over the insulator layer, the conductive layer having at least one opening in alignment with the at least one opening; a tunneling layer disposed within the at least one opening of the insulator layer; and a cathode layer disposed partially over the conductive layer and over the tunneling layer, wherein the cathode layer is at least partially transparent to photons substantially over the opening in the insulator layer.
- 50. The integrated circuit of claim 49 wherein the integrated circuit has been subjected to an annealing process.
- 51. The integrated circuit of claim 49 wherein the integrated circuit has been subjected to an annealing process that ramps to an maintains a temperature of at least about 400 to about 650 degrees C. for about 20 to 30 minutes before cooling.
- 52. The integrated circuit of claim 49 wherein the tunneling layer is selected from the group consisting of TiOx, silicon rich SiOx, SixNy, TiOxNy, and TiCOxNy.
- 53. The integrated circuit of claim 49 wherein the tunneling layer has a thickness less than about 500 Angstroms.
- 54. The integrated circuit of claim 49 wherein the cathode layer has nanohole sized openings.
- 55. The integrated circuit of claim 54 wherein at least one the dimensions of the nanohole-sized openings are less than about 10% of the thickness of the tunneling layer and the nanohole-sized openings are randomly spread over the tunneling layer.
- 56. A method for creating light device on an electron supply, comprising the steps of:
forming a dielectric light emitter/detector using semiconductor thin-film layers on the electron supply, at least one of the thin-film layers being a film characterized as at least a partially transparent cathode layer.
- 57. An emitter created by the process of claim 56.
- 58. A photodetector created by the process of claim 56.
- 59. The method of claim 56 further comprising the step of annealing the processed light device to increase the tunneling current of the dielectric light device.
- 60. The method of claim 59 wherein the step of annealing the processed light device to increase the tunneling current of the dielectric light emitter further creates the nanohole openings in the cathode layer.
- 61. The method of claim 59 wherein the step of annealing the processed light device is performed in an environment containing nitrogen.
- 62. The method of claim 56 wherein the nanohole openings are uniformly spaced on average over the emission surface and have randomly sized openings in the at least one dimension between about 1 and about 10 nanometers.
- 63. The method of claim 56 wherein cathode layer is formed by applying a transparent conductive layer.
- 64. A method for creating a light device on an electron supply, comprising the steps of:
applying a conductive layer to adhere to an insulator layer disposed on the electron supply, the insulator layer defining an opening to the electron supply; applying a patterning layer on the conductive layer; creating an opening in the patterning and conductive layer to the electron supply; applying a tunneling layer over the patterning layer and the opening; etching the patterning layer to remove it from under the tunneling layer thereby removing the tunneling layer not disposed in the opening by lift-off from the conductive layer; and applying an at least partially transparent cathode layer on the tunneling layer.
- 65. An emitter created by the process of claim 64.
- 66. A photodetector created by the process of claim 64.
- 67. The method of claim 64 further comprising the step of annealing the processed light device to increase the tunneling current.
- 68. The method of claim 67 wherein the tunneling current is increased by at least a factor of 2.
- 69. The method of claim 67 wherein the step of annealing the processed emitter creates nanohole-sized openings in cathode layer.
- 70. The method of claim 69 wherein the narrowest dimension of the nanohole-sized openings are on the order of about 1 to about 10 nanometers.
- 71. The method of claim 69 wherein the longest dimension of the nanohole-sized openings are on the order of about 10 to about 100 nanometers.
- 72. A method for creating a light device on an electron supply surface, the method comprising the steps of:
creating an insulator layer on the electron supply surface; defining an emission area within the insulator layer; applying an adhesion layer on the insulator layer; applying a conduction layer on the adhesion layer; applying a patterning layer on the conduction layer; creating an opening to the conduction layer in the patterning layer; etching the conduction layer in the opening to the adhesion layer; etching the adhesion layer to the electron supply; applying a tunneling layer over the patterning layer and the opening; etching the patterning layer beneath the tunneling layer and thereby lifting off the tunneling layer except a portion adhered to the electron supply surface in the opening; applying a cathode layer over the portion of the tunneling layer and a portion of the conduction layer; etching the cathode layer; and creating nanohole-sized openings in the cathode layer.
- 73. An emitter created by the process of claim 72.
- 74. A photon receiver created by the process of claim 72.
- 75. The method of claim 72 wherein the step of creating nanohole-sized openings further comprising the step of annealing the processed light device.
- 76. The method of claim 72 wherein the nanohole-sized openings are on the order of less than about 10% of the thickness of the tunneling layer.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation in part of commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/846,127, filed Apr. 30, 2001, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09846127 |
Apr 2001 |
US |
Child |
10337685 |
Jan 2003 |
US |