Field emission from well-aligned carbon nanotips grown in a gated device structure

Abstract

Vertically well-aligned, high-aspect-ratio carbon nanotips have been directly grown upward on the gated device structure with 4 μm gate aperture. The nanotips rapidly nucleate and grow without any catalyst. In addition, selected area deposition of nanotips is achieved by using a Pt layer as inhibitor in the bias-assisted microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition. The field emission current of nanotips on the gated structure is 154 μA (at a gate-to-cathode voltage of Vgc=50 V). This results from the following reasons: (i) short gate-tips spacing, (ii) small gate aperture, and (iii) the high-aspect ratio of nanotips.