PURPOSE: To provide a needle type electrode for field emission, having the capability of being easily stabilized and applied even to a large area element by restraining oxidation and allowing the easy removal of contamination due to an oxide via the coverage of the silicon end of the electrode with the specified metal.

CONSTITUTION: A silicon needle structure 3 is formed on a metallic oxide 2 containing one of indium, tin or zinc on a substrate 1 of silicon, glass or the like, and the top end of the structure 3 is covered with at least one of metals of indium, tin, zinc, gold, silver or platinum for surface protection. As a result, oxidation is prevented by using a precious metal such as gold and platinum for covering the end, and the contamination of metal surface due to an oxide can be easily removed by heating the electrode 5, thereby restoring an emission characteristic from a deteriorated state. According to this construction, the electrode 5 can be stably formed without any need of a micro processing technology, and a tunneling characteristic can be improved.