Patent ID: 6359378
Filing Date: 2002-03-19
Classification: H01J

Abstract:
A high-frequency amplifier, comprising:an insulating base; a conducting ground plane having a top and a bottom surface, the bottom surface being attached to the insulating base and the top surface having a first and a second area; a carbon-based body attached and electrically connected to the first area of the top surface of the conducting ground plane, the carbon-based body having two layers, a first layer having a thickness greater than about 0.5 micrometer and a second layer having a thickness greater than the thickness of the first layer, the layers being formed by placing a substrate in a reactor at a selected pressure and bringing the substrate to a selected range of temperature and supplying a mixture of gases comprising hydrogen and a carbon-containing gas at a first concentration to the reactor while supplying energy to the mixture of gases near the substrate for a time sufficient to grow the first layer and then reducing the concentration of the carbon-containing gas to second lower concentration and growing the second layer and subsequently removing the substrate from the first layer; a dielectric layer deposited on the carbon-based body and having openings therethrough; an electron extraction electrode deposited on the dielectric layer and having openings therethrough continuous with the openings through the dielectric layer; and an anode, the anode being disposed at a selected distance from the conducting ground plane so as to produce an amplified signal between the anode and the conductive ground plane when a signal is placed between the conductive ground plane and the electron extraction electrode.