Confinement of the field electron emission to atomic sites on ultra sharp tips

The spatially controlled field assisted etching method for sharpening metallic tips, in a field ion microscope (FIM), is used to study the evolution of the field emission when the tip apex radius is decreased below 1 nm. Unlike the conventional image formation in a field emission microscope (FEM), we demonstrate that at this scale the field emission is rather confined to atomic sites. A single atom apex fabricated at the end of such tips exhibits an outstanding brightness compared to other atomic tips. The measurements have been repeated for two double atom tips, with different atom-atom separations, and images of atomic field emission localization have also been obtained. We have found that the field emission intensity alternates between adjacent atoms when the applied voltage is gradually increased beyond a threshold value.     

Synthesis and field emission properties of nickel oxide nanoplatelets prepared by simple novel technique

Single crystalline NiO nanoplatelets were successfully synthesized by new facile method at 200 °C. The morphology and microstructure were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD measurement indicated that the prepared sample had typical cubic structures. The SEM investigation confirmed that the product was of the form of nanoplatelets. These nanoplatelets have average width length 250 nm and thickness of 20 nm. The field emission measurements demonstrate that the NiO nanoplatelets show a promising field emission property. The improved field emission is attributed to the local field enhancement factor at the nanoplatelets. The results confirm the importance of the morphology of nanomaterial in field emission.     

Study of two types of Ir or Rh covered single atom pyramidal W tips

The growth of a single-atom sharp pyramid tips on a tungsten substrate by depositing noble metals of the Pt family was investigated by field ion microscopy earlier. The Pd or Pt covered single-atom W pyramidal tips have been successfully prepared and established by our group. They are thermally and chemically stable and can easily be regenerated. In this study, we report the establishing and structural analysis of Rh and Ir covered single-atom W pyramidal tips. Two types of stable structures with bcc {2 1 1} facets are found for both metals. One is stacked by 1, 3, 10 atoms, and the other is stacked by 1, 6, 15 atoms for the top three layers and so on in series from the top to the deeper layers. The single atom tip is destroyed layer by layer after field evaporation to observe the structures of the different layers. However, the tip can be regenerated after it is annealed again and the two types of structures appear systematically depending on the annealing temperature. The regeneration process is investigated and the growth parameters of the two different types of Rh or Ir covered W tip are determined. The differences in the activation barrier and binding energy of these two types are calculated to be 0.08 eV and 0.064 eV for Rh covered single atom tips, and 0.03 eV and 0.14 eV for Ir covered single atom tips, respectively. Possible mechanisms and the relevance for application are discussed.     

Influence of field evaporation treatment on the field emission properties of carbon nanotubes array

Field evaporation was used in the post-fabrication treatment of a carbon nanotubes (CNTs) array and effectively modified the CNTs morphology in favor of the field emission under a moderate field. After the field evaporation treatment, the uniformity of the emission site distribution improved but the onset voltage rose. Using the Fowler-Nordheim theory, the actual onset field and the evaporation field around the CNT were calculated to be −4.6-5 and 9-12 V/nm, respectively. These values are close to those obtained from the individual CNT samples. The above results have provided an alternative to modify the configuration of an array sample and demonstrated the feasibility of tackling the problem of the disparity in the field emission capability of different CNTs in an array.     

Fabrication and field emission properties of multi-walled carbon nanotube/silicon nanowire array

Silicon nanowire (SiNW) arrays were fabricated on silicon wafers by the metal-assisted chemical etching method. Varied average diameters of SiNW arrays were realized through further treatment in a mixed agent of HF and HNO₃ of certain concentrations. After the treatment, there were more than 93% SiNWs with diameters smaller than 100 nm. The tip of each SiNW was subsequently wrapped with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with chemical vapor deposition method. The as-fabricated MWCNT/SiNW arrays were fabricated into electric field emitters, with turn-on field of 2.0 V/μm (current density: 10 μA/cm²), much lower than that of SiNW array (5.0 V/μm). The turn-on electric field of MWCNT/SiNW array decreased with the decreasing of the average diameter of SiNWs, indicating the performance of the field emission is relative to the morphology of SiNWs. As the SiNW array is uniform in height and easy to fabricate, the MWCNT/SiNW array shows potential applications in flat electric display.     

Dynamic study of W atoms and clusters on W (1 1 1) surfaces

Using a field ion microscope, the diffusion behaviors and atomic processes of W atoms and clusters on W (1 1 1) surfaces were observed directly. The activation energy of W clusters diffusion on W (1 1 1) as a function of cluster size has an oscillatory and increasing behavior. But, the activation energy of a single W atom is especially high. The compact geometric structures are more stable and have higher activation energies of surface diffusion than structures with extra atoms at the periphery. Besides the terrace diffusion, other atomic processes such as the ascending, descending, detachment motion on W (1 1 1) surfaces were also observed. Unlike the general systems, their occurrence temperatures are quite near. These experimental results were used to discuss the formation mechanism of single atom W tips.     

Synthesis, characterization and optical properties of multipod ZnO whiskers

Multipod ZnO whiskers were synthesized successfully by two steps: pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and thermal evaporation process. First, a thin layer of Zn films were deposited on Si(1 1 1) substrates by PLD. Then the whiskers grew on Zn-coated Si(1 1 1) substrate by the simple thermal evaporation oxidation of the metallic zinc powder at 900 °C in the air without any catalysts or additives. The pre-deposited Zn films by PLD on the substrate can promote the growth of ZnO multipod whiskers effectively. The as-synthesized ZnO whiskers were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The results revealed that the whiskers are highly crystalline with the wurtzite hexagonal structure. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of the whiskers shows a UV emission peak at ∼393 nm and a broad green emission peak at ∼517 nm, which was assigned to the near band-edge emission and the deep-level emission, respectively.     

Vibration-induced structures in scanning tunneling microscope light emission spectra of Ni(1 1 0)-streaky (1 × 2)-H

We have measured the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) light emission spectra of Ni(1 1 0)-streaky (1 × 2) surfaces. When the tip was fixed over atomic hydrogen adsorbed on the surfaces, two types of vibration-induced structure were observed in the STM light emission spectra. One is the periodic fine structures that were already reported in our previous paper [Y. Uehara, S. Ushioda, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 (2004) 066102] and the other newly found in the present experiments is a stepwise structure that is located at the vibrational energy of hydrogen below the cutoff energy of the STM light emission. They are ascribed to different excitation mechanisms of the vibration in the STM light emission process; the periodic fine structures appear when the vibrating motion is directly excited by the electrons injected from the tip. Conversely, the stepwise structure is observed when it is excited by the electromagnetic fields confined in the tip-sample gap, i.e., by localized surface plasmons.     

Electron field emission from a patterned array of diamond-like carbon on anodic aluminum oxide template

A patterned array of diamond-like carbon (DLC) was grown on anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template by filtered cathodic arc plasma (FCAP) technique at room temperature. The diameters of patterned array of DLC were ∼150 nm, and the patterned array density was estimated to ∼10⁹ cm⁻². A broad asymmetric band ranging from 1000 cm⁻¹ to 2000 cm⁻¹ was detected by Raman spectrum attributed to characteristic band of DLC. The fraction of sp³ bonded carbon atoms of the patterned array of DLC was measured by X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS) and the ratio was about 62.4%. Field emission properties of the patterned array of DLC were investigated. A low turn-on field of 3.4 V/μm at 10 μA/cm² with an emission area of 3.14 mm² was achieved. The results indicated that the electrons were emitted under both the effect of enhanced field because of the geometry and the work function of the DLC sample. Based on Fowler-Nordheim plot, the values of work function for the patterned array of DLC were estimated in range of 0.38 to 1.75 from a linearity plot.     

Field ionization of free helium atoms: Correlation between the kinetic energy of ionized atoms and probability of their field ionization

In this paper the correlation between the kinetic energy of helium atoms and the probability of field ionization is investigated by exploiting the narrow velocity distribution of supersonic molecular beams. Field ionization measurements were carried out on supersonic helium beams at 298 K and 95 K corresponding to energies of about 65 meV and 20 meV, respectively, for the individual atoms. The field ionization was performed with a tungsten tip, radius of curvature 12 nm, kept at room temperature. The ionization probability was found to increase by about a factor 10 when the beam was cooled from 298 K to 95 K. The results presented in this paper are of importance for improving the understanding of field ionization and for the development of a new detector for helium and other molecular beams.     

Self filling of Ni nanoparticles in amorphous AlN nanotubes and its field emission property

Unique aluminum nitride amorphous nanotubes filled with Ni nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized through the reaction of NH₃ over Ni-Al thin film at 1000 °C, which is similar to the extended vapor-liquid-solid technique. The X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopic results are in good agreement with the amorphous nature of AlN nanotubes and crystallinity of Ni nanoparticles. The AlN nanotubes were having average diameter 35 nm and length ∼4 μm, whereas the Ni nanoparticles were having 5 nm in diameter. The unique structure showed excellent field emission property and high electrical conductivity ∼0.43 kmho/m at room temperature. The mechanism of good field emission property has been explained in detail.     

Synthesis, characterization, growth mechanism, photoluminescence and field emission properties of novel dandelion-like gallium nitride

Dandelion-like gallium nitride (GaN) microstructures were successfully synthesized via Ni catalyst assisted chemical vapor deposition method at 1200 °C under NH₃ atmosphere by pre-treating precursors with aqueous ammonia. The as-synthesized product was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that as-synthesized dandelion-like GaN was pure and has hexagonal wurtzite structure. SEM results showed that the size of the dandelion-like GaN structure was in the range of 30-60 μm. Dandelion-like GaN microstructures exhibited reasonable field emission properties with the turn-on field of 9.65 V μm⁻¹ (0.01 mA cm⁻²) and threshold field of 11.35 V μm⁻¹ (1 mA cm⁻²) which is sufficient for applications of electron emission devices, field emission displays and vacuum micro electronic devices. Optical properties were studied at room temperature by using fluorescence spectrophotometer. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements of dandelion-like GaN showed a strong near-band-edge emission at 370.2 nm (3.35 eV) with blue band emission at 450.4 nm (2.75 eV) and 465.2 nm (2.66 eV) but with out yellow band emission. The room-temperature photoluminescence properties showed that it has also potential application in light-emitting devices. The tentative growth mechanism for the growth of dandelion-like GaN was also described.     

Synthesis of amorphous carbon nanowalls by DC-PECVD on different substrates and study of its field emission properties

Amorphous carbon thin films with quasi vertical nanowall-like morphologies have been synthesized via direct current plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition on both copper and silicon substrates with acetylene as a carbon precursor. The deposition temperature and pressure were maintained at 750 °C and 5 mbar respectively. The morphology of the as-prepared samples has been investigated with the help of a field emission scanning electron microscope and an atomic force microscope, both revealing nanowall-like morphologies with thicknesses of the walls ∼6-15 nm. The as-prepared carbon nanowalls showed good field electron emission with a turn-on field as low as 1.39 V/μm. The effect of inter-electrode distance on the field electron emission has also been studied in detail.     

Influence of growth time on field emission properties from carbon nanotubes deposited on arrayed nanoporous silicon pillars

We investigated the influence of growth time on field emission properties of multi-walled carbon nanotubes deposited on silicon nanoporous pillar array (MWCNTs/Si-NPA), which were fabricated by thermal chemical vapour deposition at 800 °C for 5, 15 and 25 min respectively, to better understand the origins of good field emission properties. The results showed that the MWCNTs/Si-NPA grown for 15 min had the highest field emission efficiency of the three types of samples. Morphologies of the products were examined by field-emission scanning electron microscope, and the excellent field emission performance was attributed not only to the formation of a nest array of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, which would largely reduce the electrostatic shielding among the emitters and resulted in a great enhancement factor, but also to the medium MWCNTs density films, there was an ideal compromise between the emitter density and the intertube distance, which also could effectively avoid electrostatic shielding effects, along with a high emitter density.     

Characterization of heat-assisted magnetic probe recording on CoNi/Pt multilayers

A method of heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) potentially suitable for probe-based storage systems is characterized. In this work, field emission current from a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip is used as the heating source. Pulse voltages of 2–7 V were applied to a CoNi/Pt multilayered film fabricated on either bare silicon or oxidized silicon substrates. Different types of Ir/Pt and W STM tips were used in the experiment. The results show that thermally recorded magnetic marks are formed with a nearly uniform mark size of 170 nm on the film fabricated on bare silicon substrate when the pulse voltage is above a threshold voltage. The mark size becomes 260 nm when they are written on the identical film fabricated on an oxidized silicon substrate. The threshold voltage depends on the material work function of the tip, with W having a threshold voltage about 1 V lower than Pt. A synthesized model, which contains the calculation of the emission current, the simulation of heat transfer during heating, and the study of magnetic domain formation, was introduced to explain experimental results. The simulation agrees well with the experiments.     

Investigation of field electron microscope tips bombarded with microparticles at limited field emission currents

Mo, Ta, W, and Re field electron microscope (FEM) tips, bombarded with microparticles at limited field emission currents (400 MΩ resistor in series with the FEM tip) were investigated by means of FEM, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Two groups of tips could be distinguished: One group had a slight tip radius increase to a maximum of 2.5 μm and microcraters were formed along the tip shank. The other group had no detectable tip radius change; however, there was microcrater formation near the tip apex area. FEM patterns showed surface contamination clearly. Heating such contaminated tips and tips where phosphorescent material (Zn:Cd)S had been deposited in less than monolayer concentration by evaporation from a heating coil, resulted in similar sequences of FEM patterns. A new type of microcrater with smooth crater lips could be detected in both groups. These results support the combined microparticle-field emission mechanism [1], which was proposed earlier to be responsible for melting cap and microcrater formation. Excerpts were presented at the 19th Field Emission Symposium, Urbana, Illinois (USA), August 1972.     

Structure evolution from nanocolumns to nanoporous of nitrogen doped amorphous carbon films deposited by magnetron sputtering

Different nitrogen doped amorphous carbon (CNx) films were obtained by magnetron sputtering of carbon target in argon and nitrogen atmosphere at the increasing negative bias voltages from 0 to 150 V. The films structures have experienced great change, from the novel column to nanoporous structure at the bias voltage of 0 V to the porous structure at 150 V. The proposed growth process was that the CNx nuclei grew at 0 V acted as the “seeds” for the growth of the nanocolumns, and ion etching effects at 150 V induced the formation of nanoporous structures. Furthermore, a comparison study showed that the field emission properties of the CNx films were related with the introduction of the nitrogen atoms, the size and concentration of sp² C clusters and the surface roughness. The films with rougher surface have lower threshold field.     

Flame synthesis of carbon nanotubes for panel field emission lamp

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized on the surfaces of Ni-alloy plated Fe-wires with the diameter of 2 mm using a conventional laboratory ethanol (C₂H₅OH) flame method at 560 °C. SEM showed that the product had bush-shaped micron-structures with diameters from 100 to 450 nm and lengths of over 1.0 μm. TEM revealed that the micron-structures were composed of multi-walled nanotube bundles with the diameters of about 50 nm. The test on the diode configuration field emission of the Fe-wire arrays was performed. The onset electric field was 2.95 V/μm and the emission current can reach 50 mA/cm² at an electric field of 9 V/μm. The average fluctuation of the emission current density was less than 7%. The result suggests that the field emission was uniform and the present technique was feasible to fabricate Panel Field Emission Lamp (PFEL) with arrays of carbon nanotubes. PFEL has the advantages of high luminescence as well as stability, and thus, it can be used to replace ordinary lights.     

Synthesis and field emission properties of GaN nanowires

Gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires grown on nickel-coated n-type Si (1 0 0) substrates have been synthesized using chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and the field emission properties of GaN nanowires have been studied. The results show that (1) the grown GaN nanowires, which have diameters in the range of 50-100 nm and lengths of several micrometers, are uniformly distributed on Si substrates. The characteristics of the grown GaN nanowires have been investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and through these investigations it was found that the GaN nanowires are of a good crystalline quality (2) When the emission current density is 100 μA/cm², the necessary electric field is an open electric field of around 9.1 V/μm (at room temperature). The field enhancement factor is ∼730. The field emission properties of GaN nanowires films are related both to the surface roughness and the density of the nanowires in the film.     

The enhanced field-emission properties of screen-printed single-wall carbon-nanotube film by electrostatic field

In this work, we improved the field-emission properties of a screen-printed single-wall carbon-nanotube (SWCNT) film by applying a strong electrostatic field during the drying process after the printing. By applying the strong field, more tips of SWCNTs could emerge from the screen-printed film and turn somewhat toward the erecting direction because of the repulsive force among the SWCNTs. The field-emission properties of the film were thus improved obviously. The improved field emitters sample has low electron emission turn-on field (E_to = 1.22 V/μm), low electron emission threshold field (E_th = 2.32 V/μm) and high brightness with good uniformity and stability. The lowest operating field of the improved sample is below 1.0 V/μm and its optimum current density exceeds 3.5 mA/cm².