Three-dimensional calculation of field emission from carbon nanotubes using a transfermatrix methodology

Abstract

We present simulations of field emission from carbon nanotubes, using a transfer-matrix methodology. By repeating periodically a basic unit of the nanotubes in the region preceding that containing the extraction field, specific band-structure effects are included in the distribution of incident states, i.e. those entering the field region. The structures considered are the metallic (5,5) and the semiconducting (10,0) single-wall carbon nanotubes. The total-energy distributions of incident states show the gap of the (10,0) and the expected flat region for the (5,5) nanotube. The field-emitted electron energy distributions contain peaks, which are sharper for the (10,0) structure. Except for peaks associated with van Hove singularities in the distribution of incident states or with the Fermi level in the case of a metallic structure, all peaks are shifted to lower energies by the electric field.

Influence of the electronic structure on the field electron emission from carbon nanotubes

“…Recently, new techniques for self-aligned or patterned CNT film preparation on various supports 1-6 opened the way for the fabrication of a wide range of microelectronic devices. 9,12,13 While very important for single tube field emission, the contribution of such localized states may be wiped out when measuring the field emission current from a large CNT film, containing usually a broad mixture of different CNT symmetries and diameters. [9][10][11][12][13] Some of the present theoretical research concentrates mainly on the numerical analysis of the field emission from localized states on the CNT tip.…”

Sequential tunneling model of field emission through dielectric deposits on nanotips

“…31 Clearly, even if reports of structured FEEED peaks for CNTs exist, 12,32,33 such a simple shape cannot be expected in practice. 7͒.…”