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Effect of Diameter on Electron Field Emission of Carbon Nanotube Bundles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Devon McClain ,
Mason DeRoss ,
Noel Tavan ,
Jun Jiao ,
Coralee M McCarter ,
Robert F Richards ,
Sinisa Mesarovic ,
Cecilia D Richards  and
David F Bahr
Devon McClain
Affiliation:
dmcclain@pdx.edu, Portland State University, Department of Physics, United States
Mason DeRoss
Affiliation:
derossm@pdx.edu, Portland State University, Department of Physics
Noel Tavan
Affiliation:
noelt@pdx.edu, Portland State University, Department of Physics
Jun Jiao
Affiliation:
jiaoj@pdx.edu, Portland State University, Department of Physics
Coralee M McCarter
Affiliation:
coraleemccarter@mac.com, Washington State University, Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Robert F Richards
Affiliation:
richards@mme.wsu.edu, Washington State University, Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Sinisa Mesarovic
Affiliation:
mesarovic@mme.wsu.edu, Washington State University, Mechanical & Materials Engineering
Cecilia D Richards
Affiliation:
cill@mme.wsu.edu, Washington State University, Mechanical & Materials Engineering
David F Bahr
Affiliation:
bahr@mme.wsu.edu, Washington State University, Mechanical & Materials Engineering
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Abstract

Arrays of multi-walled carbon nanotunbe (CNT) bundles were fabricated on silicon [100] substrate with iron-nitrate sol-gel catalyst patterned via standard photolithographic techniques. Nanotube bundles with diameters ranging from 400µm to 15µm were grown in a chemical vapor deposition reactor and electrically characterized using a scanning-anode probe apparatus. Results showed a relatively low number of graphitic layers in individual nanotubes and a definite increase in field emission performance with decreasing bundle diameter. A 400µm wide matt of CNTs yielded a turn-on field of 6.7 V/µm and field enhancement of 602 while 15µm bundles performed significantly better with turn-on fields of 1.6 V/µm and field enhancement factors of 2425. The overall trend strongly suggests that the field emission character of CNT based aggregate structures such as those presented here is proportional to their aspect ratio.

Keywords

chemical vapor deposition (CVD) (deposition)field emissionnanostructure
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 901: Symposium R – Assembly at the Nanoscale – Toward Functional Nanostructured Materials , 2005 , 0901-Ra16-52-Rb16-52
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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