We introduce an efficient method of fabricating cold, linear cathodes with carbon
nanotube (CNT) emitters. A nickel wire was painted first with silver paste, then
with CNT paste. After sintering under nitrogen and activation by adhesive
tape, the cathode wire provided a stable and homogeneous emission density of
200 mA cm−2 at
6.2 V µm−1. As an application, luminescent tubes were constructed using this CNT wire as the
cathode and a transparent CNT film as the anode. These cold cathodes can replace
conventional hot cathodes, which are widely used in vacuum electronic devices. The novel
two-layer structure can be applied to any substrate, and is simple and inexpensive to
fabricate.
The authors presented a conventional triode ionization gauge with a linear-type carbon nanotube cold electron emitter, which was made by painting technology on a nickel wire. The gauge used the ratio of the ion current to the electron current to indicate the vacuum. Although there was fluctuation in the cathode’s emission current, the ratio of the ion current to the electron current kept stable with a variation of about ±10% in each pressure decade from 10−7to10−3torr. The gauge showed good measurement linearity in the vacuum range from 10−6to10−3torr.
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