Field emission behavior of boron nitride nanotubes

Abstract

The field emission properties of boron nitride nanotube (BNNT) field emitters according to vacuum pressure were demonstrated. During the short-term emission operation, the field emission behaviors were almost similar, regardless of the vacuum pressure, even though the turn-on electric field of the BNNT field emitter was slightly increased as the vacuum pressure increased. On the other hand, during the long-term emission operation, both the degradation and fluctuations of the emission current of the BNNT field emitters were dramatically increased as the vacuum pressure increased. The degradation of field emission properties of the BNNT emitters according to vacuum pressure is mainly attributed to the ion bombardment effect, rather than the oxidation effect. The field emission behavior under Ar ambient also strongly demonstrates that the degradation and the fluctuation of the emission current are largely dependent on the ion bombardment effect.

Crack-Assisted Field Emission Enhancement of Carbon Nanotube Films for Vacuum Electronics

“…The FE properties of all devices, including current density versus electric field ( J – E ), emission stability, and uniformity, were recorded using a homemade diode structure set up in a vacuum chamber at a pressure of ∼2 × 10 –4 Pa at room temperature. Note that this vacuum level was widely accepted and good enough for testing the field emission performance of CNT films. − For the test of field emission stability, devices were mounted at a constant applied voltage corresponding to an initial current density of 300 μA/cm 2 .…”

Fast Response GaN Nanoscale Air Channel Diodes with Highly Stable 10 mA Output Current toward Wafer‐Scale Fabrication

“…For practical applications, the NACTs’ long‐term operation stability is a substantial hurdle. The performance of NACTs is susceptible to morphological damages induced by oxidation, electric field breakdown, [ 29 ] ion bombardment, [ 30 ] and Joule heating. [ 31 ] For NACDs with tip‐type cathodes, the difficulties are particularly challenging.…”

Boron nitride nanotubes: synthesis and applications

“…In the field of biological application, due to the nontoxicity property, BNNTs can be used as a biological probe [ 72 ], drug carrier [ 73 ], or biological channel in biosensor [ 74 ]. High stability towards oxidation of BNNTs has enabled its access to field emission technology [ 75 , 76 ]. In addition, BNNT has also been reported in hydrogen storage [ 77 – 80 ], sensing [ 81 , 82 ], and optoelectronic [ 83 , 84 ].…”