Miniaturized Wide-Range Field-Emission Vacuum Gauge

Miniaturized vacuum gauges (MVGs) for the measurement range 5.7x10-7 to 1.1x10-2 mbar were fabricated in a selfaligned approach using focused ion beam (FIB) nanomachining and reactive ion etching (RIE). The MVG consists of two properly insulated electrodes integrated on top of an atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip, forming a coaxial embodiment. The special design enables us to vary the cathode-anode separation and the turn-on voltage changes accordingly. The experiments show that the MVGs operate at low bias potential and demonstrate very good I-P dependence over a wide pressure range.