Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-s22k5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-27T03:00:16.655Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Field Emission and Nanostructure of Carbon Films

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

V. I. Merkulov ,
D. H. Lowndes  and
L. R. Baylor
V. I. Merkulov
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, [email protected]
D. H. Lowndes
Affiliation:
Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, [email protected]
L. R. Baylor
Affiliation:
Fusion Energy Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831
Get access

Abstract

The results of field emission measurements of various forms of carbon films are reported. It is shown that the films' nanostructure is a crucial factor determining the field emission properties. In particular, smooth, pulsed-laser deposited amorphous carbon films with both high and low sp3 contents are poor field emitters. This is similar to the results obtained for smooth nanocrystalline, sp2 - bonded carbon films. In contrast, carbon films prepared by hot-filament chemical vapor deposition (HF-CVD) exhibit very good field emission properties, including low emission turn-on fields, high emission site density, and excellent durability. HF-CVD carbon films were found to be predominantly sp2 -bonded. However, surface morphology studies show that these films are thoroughly nanostructured, which is believed to be responsible for their promising field emission properties.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 593: Symposium U – Amorphous & Nanostructured Carbon , 1999 , 221
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Spindt, C. A., Brodie, I., Humphrey, L., and Westerberg, E. R., J. Appl. Phys. 47, 5248 (1976).Google Scholar
2. Himpsel, F. J., Knapp, J. A., Vechten, J. A. Van, Eastman, D. E., Phys. Rev. B 20, 624 (1979).Google Scholar
3. Weide, J. Van der and Nemanich, R. J., Appl. Phys. Lett. 62, 1878 (1993).Google Scholar
4. Coll, B. F., Jaskie, J. E., Markham, J. L., Menu, E. P., Talin, A. A., von, P. All, in Covalently Bonded Disordered Thin-Film Materials, edited by Siegal, M. P., Milne, W. I., and Jaskie, J. E., (Mater. Res. Soc. Proc., Warrendale, 1998), p. 185.Google Scholar
5. Zhou, D., Krauss, A. R., Corrigan, T. D., McCauley, T. G., Chang, R. P. H., and Gruen, D. M., J. Electrochem. Soc. 144, 224 (1997).Google Scholar
6. Zhu, W., Kochanski, G. P., Jin, S., Science 282, 1471 (1998).Google Scholar
7. Heer, W. A. de, Chatelain, A., and Ugarte, D., Science 270, 1179 (1995).Google Scholar
8. Satyanarayana, B. S., Hart, A., Milne, W. I., and Robertson, J., Appl. Phys. Lett. 71, 1430 (1997).Google Scholar
9. Groning, O., Kuttel, O. M., Schaller, E., Groning, P., and Schlapbach, L., Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 476 (1996).Google Scholar
10. Talin, A. A., Felter, T. E., Friedmann, T. A., Sullivan, J. P., and Siegal, M. P., J. Vac. Sci. Tech. A 14, 1719 (1996).Google Scholar
11. Merkulov, V. I., Lowndes, D. H., Jellison, G. E. Jr., Puretzky, A. A., and Geohegan, D. B., Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 2591 (1998).Google Scholar
12. Spindt, C. A., Brodie, I., Humphrey, L., and Westerberg, E. R., J. Appl. Phys. 47, 5248 (1976).Google Scholar
13. Lowndes, D. H., Merkulov, V. I., Pedraza, A. J., Fowlkes, J. D., Puretzky, A. A., Geohegan, D. B., and Gellison, G. E. Jr., in Surface Engineering: Science and Technology I, edited by Kumar, A., Chung, Y.–W., Moore, J. J., and Smugeresky, J. E., (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, 1999), p. 113.Google Scholar
14. Groning, O., Kuttel, O. M., Schaller, E., Groning, P., and Schlapbach, L., Appl. Phys. Lett. 69, 476 (1996).Google Scholar
15. Nemanich, R. J. and Solin, S. A., Phys. Rev. B 20, 392 (1979).Google Scholar
16. Merkulov, V. I., Lannin, J. S., Munro, C. H., Asher, S. A., Veerasamy, V. S., and Milne, W. I., Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 4869 (1997).Google Scholar
17. Gilkes, K. W. R., Sands, H. S., Batchelder, D. N., Robertson, J., and Milne, W. I., Appl. Phys. Lett. 70, 1980 (1997).Google Scholar
18. Robertson, j., J. Vac. Sci. Tech. B 17, 659 (1999).Google Scholar
19. Lopinski, G. P., Merkulov, V. I., and Lannin, J. S., Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4241 (1998).Google Scholar