Patent ID: 7750780

Claim:
A method for separating attached field emission structures, comprising the steps of: maintaining a position of a first field emission structure that is attached to a second field emission structure, each one of a plurality of field emission sources of said first field emission structure being substantially aligned with a corresponding one of a plurality of field emission sources of said second field emission structure thereby producing a peak spatial force in accordance with a spatial force function; and moving said second field emission structure relative to said first field emission structure such that each one of said plurality of field emission sources of said first field emission structure becomes unaligned with a corresponding one of said plurality of field emission sources of said second field emission structure, said spatial force function being in accordance with a code, said code corresponding to a code modulo of said plurality of field emission sources of said first field emission structure and a complementary code modulo of said plurality of field emission sources of said second field emission structure, said code defining said peak spatial force corresponding to substantial alignment of said code modulo of said plurality of field emission sources of said first field emission structure with said complementary code modulo of said plurality of field emission sources 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 plurality of field emission sources of said first field emission structure and said complementary code modulo of said plurality of field emission sources 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.