Noise characteristics of emission current from conductive diamond-like carbon thin films coating on cone shaped silicon field emitters Electron field emission from a patterned diamondlike carbon flat cathode A 200-nm-thick diamond-like carbon film was prepared on Ti-deposited Si (Ͻ0.01 ⍀ cm͒ using a filtered arc deposition technique. Field-emission properties of it are enhanced as compared to films deposited on Si, showing an increased current and emission site density (ϳ1.2ϫ10 3 /cm 2 ). A patterned diamond-like carbon flat thin film on Ti-deposited Si fabricated by the oxygen reactive ion-beam etching technique shows further enhanced field-emission properties. An emission site density of 3ϫ10 3 /cm 2 was obtained. Field emission could be observed at a field value as low as 2.1 V/m. It is shown that the low potential barrier at the interface and high local geometric electric field enhancement around the edges produced by reactive ion-beam etching are possible causes for the enhanced effects. It can also be explained by the Geis' metal-diamond-vacuum triple junction emission mechanism.