Patent ID: 8216863

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a field-emitter structure having an apex diameter between 1 and 100 nm with blunted side ridges, comprises the following steps: a) providing a substrate wafer of a single-crystal material having a number of pyramidal shaped holes, prepared by use of a crystal-orientation dependent etching; b) oxidizing the substrate wafer by thermal oxidation of the substrate wafer at least in a region of the pyramidal shaped holes to form an oxidized layer at least within regions of the substrate wafer; c) removing the oxidized layer from the substrate wafer to form a pre-treated substrate wafer; d) oxidizing the pre-treated substrate wafer by thermal oxidation of the pre-treated substrate wafer at least in the region of the pyramidal shaped holes to form an oxidized layer at least within the regions of the pre-treated substrate wafer to form modified pyramidal shaped holes in a resulting substrate wafer; e) coating the resulting substrate wafer with an electron emitting material to form the field-emitter structure; and f) removing the resulting substrate wafer by chemical etching to excavate the field-emitter structure.