Robust, Zirconium Carbide and Hafnium Carbide Field Emitter Cathodes for Accelerator and Beams Applications

50685-98-I Robust Zirconium Carbide and Hafnium Carbide Field Emitter Cathodes for Accelerator and Beams Applications--Creatv MicroTech, Inc., 11609 Lake Potomac Drive, Potomac, MD 20854-1221; (301) 983-1650 Dr. Cha-Mei Tang, Principal Investigator Dr. Cha-Mei Tang, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-98ER82560 Amount: $75,000 Accelerators and radiation sources for DOE high energy physics applications require reliable electron beam sources that have high current density, large total current, and high beam brightness. Field emitters and field emitter arrays have the potential to provide these requirements. This project will investigate the ability of zirconium carbide (ZrC) and hafnium carbide (HfC) to achieve these goals; they have demonstrated temporal stability, robustness, low work function, high melting point, and excellent conductivity. ZrC and HfC will be used to make single field emitter tips and to coat arrays of field emitter tips. Electron guns will also be designed using these field emitters. Phase I will evaluate the practical limit of the total current that can be obtained from a single crystal zirconium carbide or hafnium carbide tip. Some of these tips will be fabricated. Electron guns will be designed based on these tips for application to the Free Electron Laser Program at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Field emitters and field emitter arrays have a wide range of applications as electron beam sources. Electron beams are used in many consumer products such as field emission flat-panel displays, x-ray imaging tubes, vacuum-electronic devices, etc. The market for all types of flat-panel displays is predicted to be greater than $20B per year by the year 2000._