Patent ID: 7889038

Claim:
A field emission system, comprising: a first field emission structure, said first field emission structure comprising a first plurality of field emission sources having positions and polarities in accordance with a spatial force function, at least one of said positions or said polarities of said first plurality of field emission sources having been determined by generating a candidate pattern and comparing the properties of said candidate pattern to a performance criteria; and a second field emission structure, said second field emission structure comprising a second plurality of field emission sources having positions and polarities in accordance with said spatial force function, at least one of said positions or said polarities of said second plurality of field emission sources having been determined by generating said candidate pattern and comparing the properties of said candidate pattern to said performance criteria, said spatial force function being in accordance with a code, said code corresponding to a code modulo of said first field emission structure and a code modulo of said second field emission structure, said code defining a peak spatial force corresponding to substantial alignment of said code modulo of said first field emission structure with said code modulo of said second field emission structure, said code also defining a plurality of off peak spatial forces corresponding to a plurality of different misalignments of said code modulo of said first field emission structure and said code modulo of said second field emission structure, said plurality of off peak spatial forces having a largest off peak spatial force, said largest off peak spatial force being less than half of said peak spatial force.