Field emission cathode using carbon fibers

Abstract

A field emission cathode device consisting of an electrically conducting material and with a narrow, rod-shaped geometry or a knife edge, to achieve a high amplification of the electric field strength is characterized in that the electron-emitting part of the field emission cathode at least partly has preferred cylindrical host molecules and/or compounds with host compounds and/or cylindrical atomic networks, possibly with end caps with diameters measuring in the nanometer range.

What is claimed:  
     
         1 . A field emission cathode which consists of an electrically conducting material having the shape of a narrow rod or a knife edge to achieve high magnification of the electric field strength, such that the electron-emitting part of the field emission cathode has cylindrical molecules formed at least in part as single-shell or multiple-shell carbon nano-cylinders.  
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the carbon nano-cylinders have end caps.  
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the single- or multiple-shell carbon nano-cylinders are collected into bundles.  
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the carbon nano-cylinders are filled with metal.  
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the carbon nano-cylinders at least partly have endohedral or exohedral compounds with other atoms or molecules.  
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the field emission cathode forms the tip of a field electron microscope, a field ion microscope, a scanning tunnel microscope, or a scanning power microscope.  
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of similar field emission cathodes is disposed in a line or a plane, and thereby forms a linear or planar electron source.  
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of similar field emission cathodes is disposed in a plane in the form of a matrix, and the field emission cathodes can be driven individually, and the field emission cathodes represent the electron sources for the image points of a visual display system.  
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of similar field emission cathodes is in the range of 10,000 to 100,000 molecules.