[Paper Review] Methods for an Electron Emission Digital Twin

Salvador Barranco Cárceles, Vahur Zadin+4 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Mar 23, 2026

Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy Techniques0 citations

TL;DR

The paper presents MEEDiT, a framework that combines thermo-field electron emission models with experimental data to create a real-time, physically consistent digital twin for electron emitters, demonstrated on silicon emitters.

ABSTRACT

The effective design and operation of electron emitters is the core of critical technologies such as high-resolution electron imaging and spectroscopy or X-ray production for medical imaging. Despite 100 years of theoretical development in thermo- and field-electron emission models, the analysis of experimental data and design of electron emitters remains an art more than a science. This is due to the many processes that are involved in electron emission, which result in an extremely complex phenomenon. Here we describe and develop the Methods for an Electron Emission Digital Twin (MEEDiT), which integrates state-of-the-art thermo-field electron emission models and experimental data characterisation. By applying MEEDiT to silicon electron emitters, we demonstrate an approach that bridges the gap between simple experimental measurements and 'hidden' physical quantities like temperature and field enhancement. MEEDiT provides the physical consistency of a 3D simulation with the speed of a neural network, enabling resource-effective, real-time characterization and the extraction of critical data that is otherwise inaccessible during operation.

Motivation & Objective

• Bridge the gap between simple experimental measurements and hidden physical quantities in electron emission.
• Integrate state-of-the-art thermo-field emission models with experimental data characterization.
• Provide a fast, physically consistent 3D simulation capability with neural-network-like speed for real-time emitter analysis.

Proposed method

• Develop MEEDiT as a digital twin for electron emission
• Integrate thermo-field electron emission models with experimental data characterization
• Demonstrate the approach on silicon electron emitters
• Achieve physical consistency between 3D simulations and observed data
• Enable real-time characterization and extraction of inaccessible operational data

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How can thermo-field emission models be integrated with experimental data to reveal hidden quantities like temperature and field enhancement?
• RQ2 Can a digital twin provide real-time, resource-efficient emitter characterization while maintaining physical consistency?
• RQ3 What insights about silicon electron emitters can MEEDiT extract that are not accessible through conventional measurements?

Key findings

• MEEDiT bridges the gap between simple measurements and hidden physical quantities.
• The framework provides physical consistency of a 3D simulation with fast, neural-network-like performance.
• MEEDiT enables extraction of critical data otherwise inaccessible during operation.
• Application to silicon emitters demonstrates the approach's practicality and potential.
• The method supports real-time characterization of electron emission processes.