Thermal cleaning and annealing by the extracted field emission current has been used to
achieve and maintain stable emission characteristics with microfabricated cold field
emission cathodes. Our studies show that the cathode tip surface can be smoothed,
recrystallized, and at least partially cleaned of surface adsorbates. The result is a significant
decrease in emission current noise and recovery of the initial current–voltage characteristics
of the cathode following surface contamination.