Effective emission area of multiple-tip autoemission matrices made of glassy carbon

The dependence of the effective emission area on the electric field intensity and the interelectrode gap of the diode is investigated based on the experimental current-voltage characteristics of multiple-tip autoemission matrices made of glassy carbon. It is demonstrated that the effective emission area increases and tends to the geometric area of emitting centers with decreasing gap. Variations in the effective current density of emitting centers as a function of the emission area are investigated.