Field Emission from Hydrogenated Amorphous Carbon Nanotips Grown on Cu∕Ti∕Si(100)

Abstract

Hydrogenated amorphous carbon ͑a-C:H͒ nanotips have been successfully grown on Cu/Ti/Si͑100͒ by microwave plasmaenhanced chemical vapor deposition. A Cu etching process occurs simultaneously during the growth of the a-C:H nanotips. Both the Cu etching and a-C:H nanotips growth rates continuously increase with time. In the beginning, the Cu etching rate is approximately 3 nm/min and the upward growth rate of the a-C:H nanotips is approximately 1.2 nm/min. At the end of the growth, the Cu etching rate reaches 9 nm/min and the upward growth rate of the a-C:H nanotips reaches 5 nm/min. An etchinggrowth mechanism has been proposed to explain the formation of a-C:H nanotips on Cu/Ti/Si͑100͒. The structure of the a-C:H nanotips exhibits very good field-emission characteristics where a low turn-on field of 3.2 V/m at 10 A/cm 2 is achieved.

Comparative study on catalyst-free formation and electron field emission of carbon nanotips and nanotubes grown by chemical vapor deposition

“…According to Ref. [15], the turn-on field is defined as the field at a current density of 10 A/cm 2 . Based on Fig.…”

“…For the carbon nanotips and nanotubes, their EFE characteristics are usually analyzed by F-N equation [15,20],…”

Structure- and composition-dependent electron field emission from nitrogenated carbon nanotips

“…[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Carbon nanotubes are considered to be one of the best field emitting materials due to the high local field formed near their tops and their outstanding conductivity which makes it possible to effectively conduct very high current densities. 10 Compared with carbon nanotube forests, carbon nanotips exhibit a high mechanical strength due to their nonhollow structure as well as a weak emission screening effect due to the typically large distance between the nanotips within the arrays. Importantly, the electron field emission (EFE) properties of the carbon nanotips are often superior to multiwalled carbon nanotubes because their emitting tips are typically in the low-nanometer size range.…”

“…Importantly, the electron field emission (EFE) properties of the carbon nanotips are often superior to multiwalled carbon nanotubes because their emitting tips are typically in the low-nanometer size range. 10 This is why the carbon nanotips are highly-promising for the development of the next-generation field-emitting devices and the study of their EFE properties remains a highly-topical issue in recent years. 6,[10][11][12][13] However, the relations between the EFE properties of the carbon nanotips and their structural and compositional properties still remain poorly understood.…”

“…10 This is why the carbon nanotips are highly-promising for the development of the next-generation field-emitting devices and the study of their EFE properties remains a highly-topical issue in recent years. 6,[10][11][12][13] However, the relations between the EFE properties of the carbon nanotips and their structural and compositional properties still remain poorly understood. For example, it was reported 13 that the work function and the field enhancement factor of the carbon nanotips are 5 eV and 3365, respectively.…”