Stabilization of carbon nanotube field emitters

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been determined to be field emitters of high quality, but CNTs produced by chemical vapour deposition can produce emission currents with high instability and noise. This work finds that adsorbates and amorphous carbon deposited during the growth process are the primary c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part N, Journal of nanoengineering and nanosystems Journal of nanoengineering and nanosystems, 2008-09, Vol.222 (3), p.95-99
Main Authors: Mann, M, Teo, K B K, Milne, W I, El Gomati, M M, Wells, T, Tessner, T, Ovsyanko, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon
Carbon nanotubes
Emitters
Field emission
Instability
Nanoengineering
Nanostructure
Stability
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been determined to be field emitters of high quality, but CNTs produced by chemical vapour deposition can produce emission currents with high instability and noise. This work finds that adsorbates and amorphous carbon deposited during the growth process are the primary contributors to field emission instability, and shows that burning off the amorphous carbon in air at 450°C removes the amorphous carbon, resulting in stabilities of better than 3 per cent over 1 h. This work removes one of the major barriers to the use of CNTs in field emission devices.
ISSN:1740-3499
2041-3092
DOI:10.1243/17403499JNN146