MEMS Based SCS Cleavage Nanogap for Thermionic Generation

Thermionic generation generates electricity by collecting thermionic electrons emitted from the high temperature emitter with the opposite collector. When the distance between the emitter and the collector reduced to the nanoscale, in other words, the nanogap is used, thermionic generation can generates at room temperature due to quantum effects. However, there are few reports on the quantum effect between the nanogaps. In this study, we use MEMS device which can fabricate nanogaps by cleaving single-crystal silicon.

[Applications]

  • Thermionic generation material
  • Device for evaluating properties between nanogap
  • Electron cooling device
Schematics of MEMS device

【Publication】

  • Masaki Shimofuri, Yoshikazu Hirai, Toshiyuki Tsuchiya, Osamu Tabata
    Temperature Difference Measurement Acrorss MEMS Based Nanogap Created by Cleavage of Silicon for Thermionic Generation
    The 20th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors Actuators and Microsystems (Transducers’19), Berlin, Germany (June, 2019), pp. 1483-1486
    DOI: 10.1109/TRANSDUCERS.2019.8808783

Nanogap,ResearchNanogap