REDEFINE - Robust Embedded Diamond Field Emitter for microwave amplification

Electron emitter devices are used in a broad range of applications including RF amplifiers for communications and RADAR. Increasing need for global communications driven by market demand for live, streaming video quality data for mobile users is limited by existing infrastructures and technologies. Travelling wave tubes (TWTs) remain an important enabling technology for this sector, creating RF amplification for communications at greater than double the efficiencies that the best compound semiconductors have been able to deliver. However, TWTs are currently constrained to thermionic electron sources that intrinsically limit lifetime. Diamond semiconductors offer strong potential due to their high electron mobilities and excellent thermal properties; however they have been limited in applications due to the difficulty in producing commercially viable p-n semiconductor junctions. The REDEFInE project, redefines electron field emitters by creating novel diamond electron emitters embedded into intrinsic diamond to create optimal thermal management with no inherent wear mechanisms.