Abstract
Amorphous diamond nanorod arrays with excellent field emitting have been fabricated firstly on the AAO template by the filtered cathodic arc plasma technique. Microscopic analysis has displayed that the nanorods are very uniformly distributed, and the density is very high up to ∼109 cm−2. The nanorod arrays are found to have an extremely low turn-on field of 0.16 V/μm, which is lower than other reported materials, and a high-emission current density of 180 mA/cm2 under an applied field of 2 V/μm can also be obtained. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and filed emitting tester are employed to characterize the nanorod arrays. The field emission mechanism of the nanorod arrays is also discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Spindt, C. A., Brodie, I., Humphrey, L. et al., Physical properties of thin-film field emission cathodes with molybdenum cones, J. Appl. Phys., 1976, 47: 5248–5263.
Geis, M. W., Efremow, N. N., Woodhouse, J. D., Diamond cold cathod, IEEE, Electron Device Lett., 1991, 12: 456–495.
Amaratunga, G. A. J., Nitrogen containing hydrogenated amorphous carbon for thin-film field emission cathodes, Appl. Phys. Lett., 1996, 68: 2529–2531.
Sugino, T., Tanioka, K. et al., Electron emission from nanocrystalline boron nitride films synthesized by plasma-assisted chemical vapor deposition, Diam. Realat. Mater., 1998, 7: 632–635.
Spintsyn, B. V., Zhirnov, V. V., Givargisov, E. I. et al., Field emitters based on Si tips with AlN coating, Diam. Relat. Mater., 1998, 7: 692–694.
Chen, D. H., Wang, S. P., Chang, W. Y. et al., Electron field emission from SiC/Si heterostructures synthesized by carbon implantation using a metal vapor vacuum arc ion source, Appl. Phys. Lett., 1997, 72: 1926–1928.
Sowers, A. T., Nemanich, R. J., Thin films of aluminum nitride and aluminum gallium nitride for cold cathode applications, Appl. Phys. Lett., 1997, 71: 2289–2291.
Zhirnov, V. V. et al., Wide band gap materials of field emission devices, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A, 1997, 5: 1733–1738.
Pryor, R. W., Carbon-doped boron nitride cold cathodes, Appl. Phys. Lett., 1996, 68: 1802–1804.
Liu, J., Bachmann, K. J. et al., Modification of Si field emitter surface by chemical conversion to SiC, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, 1994, 12: 717–721.
Robertson, J., Amorphous carbon cathodes for field emission display, Thin Solid Films, 1997, 296: 61–65.
Robertson, J., Milne, W., Band model for electron emission from diamond-like carbon and diamond, J. Non-Cryst. Solids, 1998, 227–230: 558–564.
Robertson, J., Electron affinity of carbon systems, Diam. Relat. Mater, 1996, 5: 797–801.
Robertson, J., Recombination and photoluminescence mechanism in hydrogenated amorphous carbon, Phys. Rev. B, 1996, 53: 16302–16305.
Cheah, L. K., Shi, X., Liu, E. et al., Electron field emission properties of tetrahedral amorphous carbon films, J. Appl. Phys., 1999, 85(9): 6816–6821.
Mao, D. S., Li, W., Wang, X. et al., Diamond-like carbon films prepared by filtered arc deposition for electron field emission application, Surf. & Coat. Technol., 2001, 137: 1–5.
Ma, X., Wang, E. G, Zhou, W. Z. et al., Polymerized carbon nanobells and their field-emission properties, Appl. Phys. Lett., 1999, 75: 3105–3107.
Lo, H. C., Das, D., Wang, J. S. et al., SiC-capped (nanostick array) nanotip arrays for field emission with ultralow turn-on field, Appl. Phys. Lett., 2003, 83: 1420–1422.
Zhang, Y. J., Yan, P. X., Wu, Z. G. et al., The preparation and characterization of high-quality TiN filmsat low temperature by filtered cathode arc plasma, J. Vac. Sci. Technol A, 2004, 22: 2419–2423.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yan, P., Li, X., Xu, J. et al. Research on the preparation of amorphous diamond nanorod arrays and their excellent field emitting properties. SCI CHINA SER E 49, 156–163 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-006-0156-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-006-0156-9