Field emitter-based vacuum sensors

The subject of this article is to review the current state of the art and the trends of the development of vacuum gauges using various types of cold-cathode electron sources (e.g. silicon field-emitter arrays, emitter arrays of the Spindt-type, carbon-based field emitters, MIM cathodes, p-n junctions). Recent progress in design and fabrication of novel vacuum pressure sensors based on field-emitter cathodes is described and discussed. The advantages and the problems of such gauges are briefly reviewed.