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Applications of field emission include its use as an electron source in Flash Memory , Electron Microscopy , MEMS systems, and Field Emission Display s.

In the field of vacuum electronics, field emission is seen as an alternative to Thermionic Emission , with advantages such as dramatically higher efficiency, less scatter of emitted electrons, faster turn-on times, compactness, and, in many cases, Redundancy . Some disadvantages include lower current per emission source and, often, lower overall current density. Field emission limits the maximum operating voltage for high voltage vacuum devices such as vacuum Capacitor s and vacuum Switch es.

Vacuum tubes based on thermionic emission require several minutes to warm up before they can be used; by contrast, the function of field emission devices is effectively instantaneous, allowing switching times of many megahertz. The ability to modulate the electron source, rather than modifying a stream of electrons from a constant source (i.e., by velocity modulation), has allowed many vacuum devices to be greatly simplified. For instance, the Klystrode functions much like the two-chamber Klystron , without the need for a first chamber.


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