Abstract: The subject of this article is to review various field emission cathodes（FEC） used in vacuum measurement for nearly semicentury.The processing methods of FEC and application status are described mainly.Moreover,the structure characteristics of the corresponding cathodes are also illustrated.At last,the latest progress of research in FEC is introduced briefly.It is shown that the novel field emission cathodes have vast application prospect in the future,and which will promote the development in vacuum measurement greatly.