AVS 51st International Symposium
    Applied Surface Science Monday Sessions
       Session AS-MoP

Paper AS-MoP8
Field Emission Analysis and Optimization of Carbon Nanoflake Edge Emitters

Monday, November 15, 2004, 5:00 pm, Room Exhibit Hall B

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: X. Zhao, College of William and Mary
Authors: X. Zhao, College of William and Mary
R.A. Outlaw, College of William and Mary
J.J. Wang, College of William and Mary
M.Y. Zhu, College of William and Mary
D.M. Manos, College of William and Mary
B.C. Holloway, College of William and Mary
Correspondent: Click to Email
Ultra thin carbon nanoflake (CNF) films have been inductively grown by rf chemical vapor deposition on a variety of substrates. The CNF films grow vertically with respect to the substrate and have flake thicknesses of < 2 nm with terminating edges as small as a single atom layer (graphene). The inordinately high field enhancement factor of the flakes represents a high tunneling efficiency and electron emission. In addition, the packing density of the flakes is also extremely high suggesting that CNF films have great potential as field emission cathodes. To optimize the field emission from these films, the growth conditions, deposition temperature, deposition time and chemical composition were varied. The turn-on field, I-V behavior, noise level, robustness, maximum current density and field emission energy spectra for selected deposition condition were observed. The CNF films were also coated with thin layers of Ti, Zr and Hf and heated to form low work function carbide edges. The resulting characteristics were then compared to uncoated CNF. Adsorption effects of H@sub 2@O and H@sub 2@ for both the uncoated and coated CNF were also studied.