Patterned carbon nanotube field emitter using the regular array of an anodic aluminium oxide template

Abstract

The carbon nanotube (CNT) is a promising nanomaterial in emitter device applications. However, the self-assembling nature of CNT growth causes fluctuations in length and weak adhesion to substrates even in the morphology of aligned CNTs, whereas CNTs synthesized on an anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) template show uniformity in diameter, length and spatial distribution due to the inherent regularity of the fabricated nanotemplate. These features are essential in developing emitter devices that are improved in emission uniformity and current density. Here we report a new field emitter structure made with CNTs deposited on AAO. The fabrication of the structure and its preliminary emission performance of the patterned emitters were investigated. A high current density of was measured from the relatively poor quality of the CNTs due to the high density of the edges for emission in the patterned structure. Comparison with the performance from plain geometry was made. A very high field enhancement factor of was also obtained.