Relativistic Correction of the Field Emission Current in the Fowler-Nordheim Formalism

Authors S.O. Lebedynskyi1, O.O. Pasko2, R.I. Kholodov1
Affiliations

1Institute of Applied Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 58, Petropavlivska St., 40000 Sumy, Ukraine

2Sumy State University, 2, Rimsky Korsakov St., 40007 Sumy, Ukraine

Е-mail lebos@nas.gov.ua
Issue Volume 11, Year 2019, Number 2
Dates Received 05 January 2019; revised manuscript received 04 April 2019; published online 15 April 2019
Citation S.O. Lebedynskyi, O.O. Pasko, R.I. Kholodov, J. Nano- Electron. Phys. 11 No 2, 02022 (2019)
DOI https://doi.org/10.21272/jnep.11(2).02022
PACS Number(s) 79.70.+q, 03.65.Ge
Keywords Field emission (3) , Dark current, relativism, Klein–Gordon equation, Fowler-Nordheim equation.
Annotation

As the title implies the article describes the possibility of taking into account the relativistic correction to the field current density of the field emission of electrons from the metal. The article provides the reader with some analytic generalization of the Fowler-Nordheim equation with the relativistic correction. The relativistic correction to the Fowler-Nordheim equation makes it possible to take into account the influence of the relativism on the field emission current. It is especially noted that the consideration of this correction is necessary in the case of sufficiently strong electric fields and relatively large interelectrode distances. It should be stressed that this correction is valid for fixed interelectrode distances that decrease with increasing electric field strength. It means that for the electric field strength of 0.1 to 1 GV/m the interelectrode distance should not exceed values of 1 to 0.1 cm. First in the article it is spoken in detail about finding of the electron wave function. Next the field emission current calculations are given. As a result the transmission coefficient of the potential step from the Klein-Gordon equation within the framework of the Fowler-Nordheim approximation is found. It is shown that in the case of the interelectrode distance less than 1 cm, an analytical expression for the field electron emission current density is obtained. The conclusion that usually relativistic correction does not exceed a tenth of a percent is made. But in the case of the field electron emission from pulsars (where the work function and electric field strength are much higher) the contribution of the relativistic correction about 10 % has been established.

List of References