1959/01/01 by Russell D. Young · 5 citations
Engineering · Materials Science · #Atomic physics #Carbon Nanotubes in Composites #Distribution (mathematics) #Electron #Energy (signal processing) #Energy distribution #Field (mathematics) #Field electron emission #Nanotechnology research and applications #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Semiconductor materials and devices #Symmetry (geometry) #Thermionic emission #Zero-point energy
paper · doi:10.1103/physrev.113.110
openalex publication_date 1959/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/04/14
The Fowler-Nordheim equation is derived in terms of total electron energy so as to obtain the total-energy distribution of field-emitted electrons. At 0\ifmmode^∘\else\textdegree\fiK the new distribution width is less than (1)/(3) of that obtained from the previous "normal-energy" theory. A surprising mirror-image symmetry is observed between the zero-temperature total-energy field emission and the zero-field normal-energy thermionic emission distributions. The total-energy distribution is also derived for the zero-field thermionic case and this is found to be the mirror image of the normal-energy zero-temperature field emission distribution.The new distribution applies to problems involving the total energy of electrons before and after emission.