Mechanism of low-voltage field emission from nanocarbon materials

Abstract

Field emission from nanostructured carbon materials is analyzed by applying the model of emission center in which the emitting surface contains two phases of carbon having substantially different electronic properties. In accordance with this model, the proposed mechanism involves electron tunneling through two potential barriers. The calculated probability of tunneling through two potential barriers implies that the low-voltage field emission observed experimentally can be attributed to the existence of resonant surface states. Numerical estimates suggest that the emission current can increase by at least four orders of magnitude owing to resonant tunneling through two potential barriers.