Patent ID: 7750774

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 field emission strengths, positions, and polarities in accordance with a spatial force function, wherein at least one of said field emission strengths, said positions, or said polarities of said first plurality of field emission sources correspond to a non-regular pattern; 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, wherein at least one of said field emission strengths, said positions, or said polarities of said second plurality of field emission sources correspond to said non-regular pattern, said spatial force function being in accordance with a code, said code corresponding to a code modulo of said first plurality of field emission sources and a complementary code modulo of said second plurality of field emission sources, said code defining a peak spatial force corresponding to substantial alignment of said code modulo of said first plurality of field emission sources with said complementary code modulo of said second plurality of field emission sources, 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 plurality of field emission sources and said complementary code modulo of said second plurality of field emission sources, 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.