Ultracoherent Single‐Electron Emission of Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

A single‐electron emitter, based on a single quantized energy level, can potentially achieve ultimate temporal and spatial coherence with a large emission current, which is desirable for atomic‐resolution electron probes. This is first developed by constructing a nano‐object on a metal tip to form a quantized double barrier structure. However, the single‐electron‐emission current can only achieve a picoampere level due to the low electron tunneling rate of the heterojunction with large barrier width, which limits the practical applications. In this study, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) serve as a single‐electron emitter and a current up to 1.5 nA is demonstrated. The double barrier structure formed on the CNT tip enables a high tunneling rate (≈1012 s−1) due to the smaller barrier width. The emitter also shows high temporal coherence (energy dispersion of ≈10 meV) and spatial coherence (effective source radius of ≈0.85 nm). This work represents a highly coherent electron source to simplify the electron optics system of atomic‐resolution electron microscopy and sub‐10 nm electron beam lithography.

Structural Inhomogeneities and Nonlinear Phenomena in Charge Transfer under Cold Field Emission in Individual Closed Carbon Nanotubes

“…The appearance of peaks in the I-V characteristics in cold field emission mode with CNTs as emitters was also found in [48,49] at small distances between a CNT and cathode in [23,48,49] and in [64,65] at larger distances between a CNT and cathode.…”

“…On the basis of cold field emission from CNTs, it is possible to create microdevices, such as vacuum microtube sources, microtriodes and many other microdevices for the components for new generations of quantum vacuum microelectronics [66,67]. On the other hand, cold field emission from single CNTs can make it possible to create single nanodevices, for example, individual nanodevices for single electronics, sub-10 nm electron beam lithography, and atomic resolution electron microscopy [23].…”

“…[7,8,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The emission of single electrons from individual CNTs makes it possible to create single-electron devices, which are necessary for quantum technologies [21][22][23]. Miniature X-ray sources based on CNTs have also been created [7,8,[23][24][25][26].…”

Interfacial and Filler Size Effects on Mechanical/Thermal/Electrical Properties of CNTs-Reinforced Nanocomposites

“…Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have attracted extensive attention from researchers due to their various excellent properties, such as high modulus, high strength [ 1 ], high electrical conductivity [ 2 ], and high thermal conductivity [ 3 ], making them ideal reinforcement for nanocomposites [ 4 , 5 ]. The high aspect ratio and high specific surface area of CNTs can maximize the excellent micro-nano properties of CNT fillers on the macro scale.…”

Structural Inhomogeneities and Nonlinear Phenomena in Charge Transfer under Cold Field Emission in Individual Closed Carbon Nanotubes

“…The emission of single electrons from individual CNTs makes it possible to create the single-electron devices, which are necessary for quantum technologies [21]. The miniature X-ray sources based on CNTs have also been created [7,8,[23][24][25][26].…”