A novel flat electron emission lamp based on the porous silicon ballistic-electron emitter

Abstract A novel flat electron emission lamp (FEEL) was demonstrated using the porous silicon (PS) based electron emitter as the cold cathode, which is characterized by low vacuum requirement, convenient fabrication, simple structure, and low driving voltage. The favorable luminous brightness was obtained even the emission current density is only 13.86 μA/cm2 at the low driving voltage of 36 V. Compared with the conventional fluorescent lamp, the lower driving voltage and operation current density make the novel FEEL generate lower thermal effect and power consumption. It is easy to control the luminous intensity by changing the emitted electron kinetic energy which is adjusted by varying driving voltage. Moreover, since the environmentally hazardous mercury was replaced by the solid-state phosphor in this novel FEEL, many benefits also can be obtained such as safety, stability, environmentally friendly, and downsizing. Most importantly, because the PS can be directly fabricated by the simple wet etching process in the silicon wafer, our results also can open new perspectives for the realization of silicon-technology compatible fluorescence lamps with large fluorescence area operating at room temperature.