Advanced Modelling of Field Emission

After offering great promise and attracting substantial investment in technology development, fields emission did not succeed in the competition against liquid crystal technology for computer screens and plasma technology for large flat panel television. We review and analyze some of the challenges that prevented field emission from becoming a mayor information display technology. W e report the development of a novel modelling tool that can be used to support the design of field emitters optimized to the application requirements. The previous lack of such a simulation tool that incorporates the range of phenomena that affect field emission has been a limiting factor in emitter performance and data analysis. The new model enables more accurate and effective design of field emitters including the emission dynamics and thermal behaviour for a wide range of geometries and materials. It provides a powerful tool with high accessibility to support engineers to make informed decisions as part of the product design process. This increases opportunities for field emission to be used in a range of non-display applications.