Tungsten nanowires and their field electron emission properties

Abstract

We report the fabrication of tungsten nanowires, by simple thermal treatment of W films, that behave as self-catalytic layers and their excellent electron field emission properties as well. The obtained nanowires have a diameter ranging from 10 to 50 nm, showing perfect straightness and neat appearance. Typical turn-on field for the electron emission is about 5 V/μm, and the field enhancement factor β becomes 38 256, which is very close to that of the high efficient single-wall carbon nanotube emitters. The most exciting result is the possibility of easy fabrication of perfectly straight nanowires as promising building blocks for terabit-level interconnection and nanomachine components without the intentional use of any heterogeneous catalysts.