High emission current density microwave-plasma-grown carbon nanotube arrays by postdepositional radio-frequency oxygen plasma treatment

Highly stable field emission current densities of more than 6 A ∕ cm 2 along with scalable total field emission currents of ∼ 300 μ A per 70 μ m diameter carbon nanotube (CNT)-covered electron emitter dot are reported. Microwave-plasma chemical vapor deposition, along with a novel catalyst sandwich...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2005-12, Vol.87 (24), p.243104-243104-3
Main Authors: Chen, Z., den Engelsen, D., Bachmann, P. K., van Elsbergen, V., Koehler, I., Merikhi, J., Wiechert, D. U.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
CARBON
CATALYSTS
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
CURRENT DENSITY
EV RANGE 01-10
FABRICATION
FIELD EMISSION
MATERIALS SCIENCE
MICROWAVE RADIATION
NANOTUBES
OXYGEN
PLASMA
RADIOWAVE RADIATION
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
WORK FUNCTIONS
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Summary:Highly stable field emission current densities of more than 6 A ∕ cm 2 along with scalable total field emission currents of ∼ 300 μ A per 70 μ m diameter carbon nanotube (CNT)-covered electron emitter dot are reported. Microwave-plasma chemical vapor deposition, along with a novel catalyst sandwich structure and postdepositional radio-frequency (rf) oxygen plasma treatment lead to well-structured vertically aligned CNTs with excellent and scalable emission properties. Scanning electron and transmission electron microscope investigations reveal that postdepositional treatment reduces not only the number but modifies the structure of the CNTs. Well-structured microwave-plasma-grown nanotubes become amorphous during rf oxygen plasma treatment and the measured work functions of CNTs change from 4.6 eV to 4.0 eV before and after treatment, respectively. Our experiments outline a novel fabrication route for structured CNT arrays with improved and scalable field emission characteristics.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.2140893