Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Field Emission From a Planar Nanodiode

High resolution molecular dynamics simulations with full Coulomb interactions of electrons are used to investigate field emission in planar nanodiodes. The effects of space charge and emitter radius are examined and compared to previous results concerning transition from Fowler-Nordheim to Child-Langmuir current. The Fowler-Nordheim law is used to determine the current density injected into the system and the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm to find a favourable point of emission on the emitter surface. A simple fluid like model is also developed and its results are in qualitative agreement with the simulations.