Electron Field Emission Properties of Diamond

Abstract

We have developed both experimental and numerical methods to collect and analyze field emission data from diamond samples. The diamond emitters are either films prepared by low pressure chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or powders synthesized by traditional high pressure high temperature (HPHT) processes. We established a strong correlation between the electric field required for emission and the defect densities in undoped or p-type doped diamond. We further found that ultrafine diamond particulate emitters offer substantially enhanced electron field emission properties at low electric fields compared to CVD diamond emitters. When subject to appropriate processing schemes, the particulate diamond emitters exhibit extremely low emission fields, typically 1-5 V/μm for a current density of 10 mA/cm2. These are believed to be the lowest-voltage field emitters ever reported.

Broad area electron emission from oxygen absorbed homoepitaxially grown nitrogen (N)-doped chemical vapor deposited diamond (111) surface

“…Recently, however, low-threshold electron emission has been demonstrated experimentally from diamond, for example, N-doped chemical vapor deposited ͑CVD͒ diamond, 1 the metal-diamond-vacuum triple junctions, 2 and nanostructured dimond, 3 as well as from carbon nanotubes 4 and conjugated polymers. The main advantages of using a cold cathode is that it is smaller and consumes less energy than its thermal counterpart.…”

High-current-density field emission from multiwalled carbon nanotubes by chemical-vapor deposition with effective aging treatment

“…In the past decade, carbon nanotubes have been widely investigated to try to find a suitable way for them to be used as an electronic source ͑cold cathode͒, which is essential in fieldemission display devices and microwave tubes. [14][15][16] These researches greatly improve our knowledge about the application of CNTs as cold-field-emission cathodes. 12,13 Before CNTs emerged as electronic sources, high-current-density emission was obtained from thermionic emission at temperature above 1000 K or lithographically fabricated tips.…”

Preparation and field emission property of nanodiamond-cluster-embedded diamondlike carbon film

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Intensive effort has been devoted to improve the field emission properties of diamond and diamondlike carbon ͑DLC͒ films and to discern their emission mechanism. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Intensive effort has been devoted to improve the field emission properties of diamond and diamondlike carbon ͑DLC͒ films and to discern their emission mechanism.…”