Fabrication of amorphous-carbon-nitride field emitters

Abstract

To improve silicon field emitters, an amorphous-carbon-nitride (a-CN) coating was applied by helical resonator plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. By this process, a-CN was very uniformly coated on silicon tips without any damage. Microstructural and electrical investigation of the silicon and a-CN coated field emitters were performed. a-CN coating lowered turn-on voltage and increased emission current. Negative electron affinity of carbon nitride is suggested for enhancing emission current.