Multiplexing and scaling-down of nanostructured photon-triggered silicon field emitter arrays for maximum total electron yield.

Femtosecond ultrabright cathodes with spatially structured emission are a critical technology for applications such as free-electron lasers, tabletop coherent x-ray sources, and ultrafast imaging. In this work, the optimization of the total electron yield of ultrafast photon-triggered field emission cathodes composed of arrays of nanosharp, high-aspect-ratio, single-crystal silicon pillars is explored through the variation of the emitter pitch and height. Arrays of 6 nm tip radius silicon emitters with emitter densities between 1.2 and 73.9 million tips cm(-2) (hexagonally packed arrays with emitter pitch between 1.25 and 10 μm) and emitter height between 2.0 and 8.5 μm were characterized using 35 fs 800 nm laser pulses. Three-photon electron emission for low-energy (<0.3 μJ) light pulses and strong-field emission for high-energy (>1 μJ) light pulses was observed, in agreement with the literature. Of the devices tested, the arrays with emitter pitch equal to 2.5 μm produced the highest total electron yield; arrays with larger emitter pitch suffer area sub-utilization, and in devices with smaller emitter pitch the larger emitter density does not compensate the smaller per-emitter current due to the electric field shadowing that results from the proximity of the adjacent tips. Experimental data and simulations suggest that 2 μm tall emitters achieve practical optimal performance as shorter emitters have visibly smaller field factors due to the proximity of the emitter tip to the substrate, and taller emitters show marginal improvement in the electron yield at the expense of greater fabrication difficulty.