Universal model for electron thermal-field emission from two-dimensional semimetals

Abstract

We present the theory of out-of-plane (or vertical) electron thermal-field emission from 2D semimetals. We show that the current-voltage-temperature characteristic is well-captured by a universal scaling relation applicable for broad classes of 2D semimetals, including graphene and its few-layer, nodal point semimetal, Dirac semimetal at the verge of topological phase transition and nodal line semimetal. Here an important consequence of the universal emission behavior is revealed: in contrast to the common expectation that band topology shall manifest differently in the physical observables, band topologies in two spatial dimension are indistinguishable from each others and bear no special signature in the electron emission characteristics. Our findings represent the quantum extension of the universal semiclassical thermionic emission scaling law in 2D materials, and provide the theoretical foundations for the understanding of electron emission from cathode and charge interface transport for the design of 2D-material-based vacuum nanoelectronics.

9 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables

References in corpus (19)

• The electronic properties of graphene
• Energy Gaps in Graphene Nanoribbons
• Chiral tunneling and the Klein paradox in graphene
• Unconventional quantum Hall effect and Berry's phase of 2pi in bilayer graphene
• Topological nodal line semimetals
• Van der Waals heterostructures for high-performance device applications: challenges and opportunities
• Ideal Graphene/Silicon Schottky Junction Diodes
• Electronic Transport and quantum oscillation of Topological Semimetals
• Electron Thermionic Emission from Graphene and a Thermionic Energy Converter
• Valleytronics in merging Dirac cones: All-electric-controlled valley filter, valve and universal reversible logic gate
• Quantum Transport in Topological Semimetals under Magnetic Fields
• Signatures of phonon and defect-assisted tunneling in planar metal-hexagonal boron nitride-graphene junctions
• Generalized high-energy thermionic electron injection at graphene interface
• Current-temperature scaling for a Schottky interface with non-parabolic energy dispersion
• Topological flat band, Dirac fermions and quantum spin Hall phase in 2D Archimedean lattices
• Electrical Contact between an Ultrathin Topological Dirac Semimetal and a Two-Dimensional Material
• Attosecond-fast internal photoemission
• Unifying Interacting Nodal Semimetals: A New Route to Strong Coupling
• Shear viscosity as a probe of nodal topology