Ultra-low breakdown voltage of field ionization in atmospheric air based on silicon nanowires

Classic field ionization requires extremely high positive electric fields, of the order of a few million volts per centimeter. Here we show that field ionization can occur at dramatically lower fields on the electrode of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with dense surface states and large field enhancement factor. A field ionization structure using SiNWs as the anode has been investigated, in which the SiNWs were fabricated by improved chemical etching process. At room temperature and atmospheric pressure, breakdown of the air is reproducible with a fixed anode-to-cathode distance of 0.5 μm. The breakdown voltage is ∼38 V, low enough to be achieved by a battery-powered unit. Two reasons can be given for the low breakdown voltage. First, the gas discharge departs from the Paschen's law and the breakdown voltage decreases sharply as the gap distance falls in μm range. The other reason is the large electric field enhancement factor (β) and the high density of surface defects, which cause a highly non-uniform electric field for field emission to occur.