Electron field emission from patterned a-SiO2/nanocrystalline diamond core-shell sub-micrometer-tip arrays
Mendes, J. C.
; Singh, M.K.S.
; Pereira, L.P.
; Titus, E.T.
; Cabral, G.C.
Applied Physics Letters Vol. 92, Nº 2, pp. 023113-1 - 023113-3, December, 2008.
ISSN (print): 0003-6951
ISSN (online): 1077-3118
Scimago Journal Ranking: 2,89 (in 2008)
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1063/1.2835905
Abstract
We report the fabrication of patterned nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) submicrometer-tip arrays. This includes synthesis of silica (a-SiO2) templates by conventional vapor-liquid-solid method and conformal coating of the a-SiO2 nanowires with 5–10 nm sized nanodiamond grains by microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition. Detailed structural investigations were carried out by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. Electron field emission of nanodiamond emitter arrays was observed with a threshold field of 5.5 V/μm. A high emission current density of 10 mA cm−2 at 11 V/μm has been obtained. This value is comparable to those of high quality NCD films deposited on silicon substrates.
