Novel planar field emission of ultra-thin individual carbon nanotubes

作者：Song Xuefeng; Gao Jingyun; Fu Qiang; Xu Jun; Zhao Qing^*; Yu Dapeng

来源：Nanotechnology, 2009, 20(40): 405208.

DOI：10.1088/0957-4484/20/40/405208

In this work, we proposed and realized a new prototype of planar field emission device based on as-grown individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the surface of a Si-SiO(2) substrate. The anode, cathode and the CNT tip all lie on the same surface, so the electron emission is reduced from three-dimensional to two-dimensional. The benefits of such a design include usage of thinner CNT emitters, integratability with planar technology, stable construction, better heat dissipation, etc. A tip-to-tip field emission device was presented besides the tip-to-electrode one. Real-time, in situ observation of the planar field emission was realized in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Measurements showed that the minimum voltage for 10 nA field emission current was only 8.0 V and the maximum emission current density in an individual CNT emitter (1.0 nm in diameter) exceeded 5.7 x 10(8) A cm(-2). These results stand out in the comparison with recent works on individual CNT field emission, indicating that the planar devices based on ultra-thin individual CNTs are more competitive candidates for next-generation electron field emitters.

• 出版日期2009-10-7
• 单位北京大学