Field emission from open ended aluminum nitride nanotubes

Abstract

This letter reports the field emission measurements from the nanotubes of aluminum nitride which were synthesized by gas phase condensation using the solid-vapor equilibria. A dc arc plasma reactor was used for producing the vapors of aluminum in a reactive nitrogen atmosphere. Nanoparticles and nanotubes of aluminum nitride were first characterized by transmission electron microscope and tube dimensions were found to be varying from 30 to 200 nm in diameter and 500 to 700 nm in length. These tubes were mixed with nanoparticles of size range between 5 and 200 nm in diameter. Tungsten tips coated with these nanoparticles and tubes were used as a field emitter. The field emission patterns display very interesting features consisting of sharp rings which were often found to change their shapes. The patterns are attributed to the open ended nanotubes of aluminum nitride. A few dot patterns corresponding to the nanoparticles were also seen to occur. The Fowler-Nordheim plots were seen to be nonlinear in nature, which reflects the semi-insulating behavior of the emitter. The field enhancement factor is estimated to be 34 500 indicating that the field enhancement due to the nanometric size of the emitter is an important cause for the observed emission.

Silicon and III-V compound nanotubes: Structural and electronic properties

“…Motivated by interesting properties of SW(BN)NT and opto-electronic and field emitting properties of GaN and AlN tubular forms [21,25] we choose (8,0) AlP, GaAs and GaN single-wall nanotubes as prototype to investigate the stability and electronic properties of III-V compound nanotubes. Even if the single-wall nanotubes of these compounds have not been sythesized yet, the predictions of present work is essential for further efforts to achieve it.…”

“…[17] Now, SWSiNTs are no longer hypothetical structures and it is not unrealistic to expect their fabrication with controllable size and diameter. Similarly, achievements of synthesis of singlewall BN nanotubes [18] and GaN [19,20], AlN [21] thickwall tubular forms has increased the interest in the theoretical analysis of compound nanotubes. [22,23,24,25] In addition, the synthesis of Mo and W chalcogenid nanotubes [26,27,28], and also NiCl tubular and cage structures have been realized.…”

The adsorption of CO molecule on pristine, As, B, BAs doped (4, 4) armchair AlNNTs: a computational study

“…Among these, aluminum nitride nanotubes (AlNNTs) which are neighbors of carbon in the periodic table have been an interesting subject of many studies [11,12]. After the prediction of AlNNTs by Zhang [13], Tondare et al [14], other articles reported the synthesis of AlNNTs through different methods [15,16]. AlNNTs is the largest band-gap semiconductors with the energy of 6.2 eV and have several unique properties such as high thermal conductivity, high electrical resistivity, low thermal expansion coefficient, high dielectric breakdown strength, good mechanical strength, excellent chemical stability, and non-toxicity [17][18][19].…”

Aluminium nitride nanowire array films for nanomanufacturing applications

“…7 Owing to these very promising applications, significant research has been devoted to the synthesis of 1D-AlN nanostructures with various fabrication methods. These fabrication methods include metal organic vapour deposition, 8 arc discharging process, 9 chloride assisted growth, 10 carbothermal reduction, 11 gas reduction nitridation 12 and chemical vapour deposition (CVD). [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] Nevertheless, most of these fabrication methods involve the use of catalysts (mostly Au), which can introduce detrimental defects in AlN resulting poor performances in electronic and optoelectronic applications.…”