Abstract
Aligning a cathode tip at the center of a gate hole is important in gated filed emission devices. We have fabricated a silicon field emitter using a following process so that a cathode and a gate hole are automatically aligned . After forming silicon tips on a silicon wafer, the wafer was covered with the $SiO_2$, gate metal, and photoresistive(PR) films. Because of the viscosity of the PR films, a spot where cathode tips were located protruded above the surface. By ashing the surface of the PR film, the gate metal above the tip apex was exposed when other area was still covered with the PR film. The exposed gate metal and subsequenlty the $SiO_2$ layer were selectively etched. The result produced a field emitter in which the gate film was in volcano shape and the cathode tip was located at the center of the gate hole. Computer simulation showed that the volcano shape and the cathode tip was located at the center of the gat hole. Computer simulation showed that the volcano shape emitter higher current and the electron beam which was focused better than the emitter for which the gate film was flat.