Influence of Silver Incorporation on the Structural and Electrical Properties of Diamond-Like Carbon Thin Films

A simple approach is proposed for obtaining low threshold field electron emission from large area diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films by sandwiching either Ag dots or a thin Ag layer between DLC and nitrogen-containing DLC films. The introduction of silver and nitrogen is found to reduce the thresh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS applied materials & interfaces 2013-04, Vol.5 (7), p.2725-2732
Main Authors: Dwivedi, Neeraj, Kumar, Sushil, Carey, J. David, Tripathi, R. K, Malik, Hitendra K, Dalai, M. K
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:A simple approach is proposed for obtaining low threshold field electron emission from large area diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films by sandwiching either Ag dots or a thin Ag layer between DLC and nitrogen-containing DLC films. The introduction of silver and nitrogen is found to reduce the threshold field for emission to under 6 V/μm representing a near 46% reduction when compared with unmodified films. The reduction in the threshold field is correlated with the morphology, microstructure, interface, and bonding environment of the films. We find modifications to the structure of the DLC films through promotion of metal-induced sp2 bonding and the introduction of surface asperities, which significantly reduce the value of the threshold field. This can lead to the next-generation, large-area simple and inexpensive field emission devices.
ISSN:1944-8244
1944-8252
DOI:10.1021/am4003183