A simple and robust electron beam source from carbon nanotubes

Abstract

A simple fabrication method is described to produce reliable and robust (self-repairing) field emission sources from randomly aligned carbon nanotubes. The sources display stable and reproducible current–voltage characteristics with sharp turn on near 100 V and emission currents up to 400 mA/cm2 at 200 V. Two successful methods are described for patterning the emission source area into emitting and nonemitting regions.