VACUUM TUNNEL DIODE (VTD) Russian patent published in 2018 - IPC H01L29/88 H01L21/329 

FIELD: instrument engineering.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the field of vacuum tunnel diodes (DTC). One of the main applications of the invention is the creation of highly efficient converters of thermal energy into electricity or electric energy into cold or heat. Concept of the invention is as follows: The VTD consists of an emitter and a collector, separated by a vacuum gap with a width of 0.3-1.5 nm. Emitter is an elastic electrically conductive and heat-conducting membrane. Collector is made of an n-type conductivity semiconductor. Vacuum gap is created by a spacer, which consists of dielectric elements 0.3-1.5 nm in height and 0.1-10 nm in diameter, spaced 1-100 nm apart, or porous two-dimensional dielectric polymer films with a thickness of 0.1-1.5 nm with a pore size of 1-100 nm. Work function of electrons from the emitter is higher than the work function of electrons from the cathode.

EFFECT: invention makes it possible to create an DTC as a highly efficient energy converter.

13 cl, 12 dwg, 2 tbl