Annealing effects on the field emission properties of AlN nanorods

Abstract

The effects of thermal annealing on the field emission properties of AlN nanorods treated in different ways were investigated. A strong correlation was observed between the nitrogen vacancy concentration and the field emission properties of the samples. The sample annealed in ammonia had a higher emission current than the as-grown and vacuum-annealed samples. Raman and cathodoluminescence analyses revealed that the sample treated with ammonia had the smallest nitrogen vacancy density and the lowest work function, leading to the best field emission properties. These results indicate that post-treatment is an effective way to improve the field emission properties of AlN nanostructures.

AlN Nanorods synthesized by a Mechanothermal Process

“…It is interesting to observe the tip of the nanorods (marked by arrows), they have an ending semipointed. This material can be used as electronic device, since the morphology and the size of the nanorods increase the electronic properties [1,2]. EDS-analysis confirms the chemical composition of AlN nanorods, indicates the presence of aluminum and nitrogen as a main components, with small quantities of Ni added to the sample.…”

“…The distance between the bright lines corresponds to the c axis, however, the distance from bright line to dot-dark line is 0.245 nm, close to the (002) plane. It is important to mention that the AlN nanorod is not oriented near to the [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] zone axis, the nanorod is rotated; therefore the originated contrast is due to rotation. Figure 4a shows a HREM image of the AlN nanorod with another growing direction.…”

“…AlN nanorods have attracted interest because of their important electronic and emission properties and potential applications such as light emitting diodes and higher sensitivity sensors [1,2]. Furthermore, this material has other interesting properties including high thermal conductivity, an excellent thermal expansion match to silicon, chemical stability, good mechanical strength, and non toxicity [3].…”

Efficient field emission characteristics from a planar-gate surface-conduction electron source with ZnO emitters

“…One-dimensional (1D) nanostructures have been intensively studied as cold cathode field emitters due to their small sharp tips and very large aspect ratio [21,22]. Among them, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been demonstrated outstanding field emission properties and lots of work has been reported [23][24][25].…”

Synthesis of cubic aluminum nitride by VLS technique using gold chloride as a catalyst and its optical and field emission properties

“…Optical properties and field emission of the grown cubic AlN films were studied in detail. Field emission property mainly depends on the screening effect [8], vacancy states, work function (˚) [15] and local field enhancement factor (ˇ) [7]. It also depends on the shape of anode, emission area [16], cathode to anode distance [17], etc.…”