AVS 46th International Symposium
    Thin Films Division Monday Sessions
       Session TF+VM-MoM

Paper TF+VM-MoM11
Effect of Nondiamond Carbon on the Electron Transport Path of Field-emitted Electrons from Undoped Polycrystalline Diamond Films

Monday, October 25, 1999, 11:40 am, Room 620

Session: Advances in Hard and Superhard Coatings I
Presenter: J.Y. Shim, Yonsei University, Republic of Korea
Authors: J.Y. Shim, Yonsei University, Republic of Korea
K.M. Song, Konkuk University, Republic of Korea
H.K. Baik, Yonsei University, Republic of Korea
Correspondent: Click to Email
Diamond has attracted considerable interest recently as a promising field emitter material because of its important properties such as NEA, high thermal conductivity, and low field electron emission. Among the properties, understanding the origin of low field emission is a key factor for the application of diamond to a field emitter. Many investigations have been extensively drawn to clarify the origin of low field emission behavior of diamond. Suggested models explaining the low field emission behaviors up to now are the discontinuous graphitic inclusions in CVD diamond matrix, the defect induced subbands, and the surface emission from metal-diamond-vacuum interface. Besides, there have been several reports on the importance of the electron transport through the substrate/diamond interface. However, the origin of the low field emission behavior is still unclear, and those may be different between diamond crystal and CVD diamond films. It is expected that the field emission mechanism of undoped polycrystalline diamond films can be changed by the structural properties. The present study is mainly focused on the electron transport through the substrate-diamond interface and the diamond layer, and the resulting field emission mechanism of undoped polycrystalline diamond films with different structural properties. In order to examine field emission properties of undoped polycrystalline diamond films, we have prepared the diamond films with different structural properties and/or different substrate-diamond interfaces. It was observed that transport paths of field-emitted electrons could be clearly identified from the spatial distributions of emission sites and the nondiamond carbon content obtained from the diamond films, and the characteristics of the substrate-diamond could modify the field emission properties. From the present study, a possible field emission mechanism for the undoped polycrystalline diamond films is suggested.