Solidified liquid metal ion sources - formation of a nanoemitter

Solidified liquid metal ion sources (LMISs) operating with Au alloy wetted hair-pin emitters can be used as high-intensity electron point sources with nanometer dimension for electron field emission application. A nanoemitter tip on a solidified LMIS emitter can be formed by quenching during ion emission mode. I-V characteristics and the performance of the electron emitting LMIS are presented.