Effect of the cesium and potassium doping of multiwalled carbon nanotubes grown in an electrical arc on their emission characteristics

The effect of cesium and potassium atoms deposited onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes grown in an electrical arc on their emission characteristics was studied. The current–voltage characteristics of the field electron emission of specimens with cesium or potassium doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes of this type were revealed to retain their linear character in the Fowler–Nordheim coordinates within several orders of magnitude of change in the emission current. The deposition of cesium and potassium atoms was shown to lead to a considerable increase in the emission current and a decrease in the work function φ of studied emitters with multiwalled nanotubes. The work function was established to decrease to φ ~ 3.1 eV at an optimal thickness of coating with cesium atoms and to φ ~ 2.9 eV in the case of doping with potassium atoms. Cesium and potassium deposition conditions optimal for the attainment of a maximum emission current were found.

     

Field electron emission form single-walled carbon nanotubes with deposited cesium atoms

It has been found that deposition g of cesium atoms on single-walled carbon nanotubes covered with potassium atoms not only drastically increases emission current but also considerably changes the shape of current-voltage characteristics of field electron emission, namely, the characteristics become nonlinear in Fowler-Nordheim coordinates. It has been assumed that this effect is associated with the fact that field electron emission in these layers comes from single-walled carbon nanotubes, which have p-type conductivity after potassium treatment, while deposition of cesium leads to the formation of p-n junctions near nanotube tips. Part of the applied voltage drops in p-n junction, thus causing a nonlinearity of current-voltage characteristics.     

Characterization and field emission characteristics of carbon nanotubes modified by titanium carbide

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were modified by depositing a thin layer of titanium film on the surface using magnetron sputtering method, followed by vacuum annealing at 900 °C for 2 h. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed that the as-deposited thin titanium film reacted with carbon atoms to form titanium carbide after annealing. The experiment results show that the thickness of sputter-deposited titanium film has significant effect on the field emission J-E characteristic of modified CNTs film. The titanium carbide-modified CNTs film obtained by controlling the titanium sputtering time to 2 min showed an improved field emission characteristics with a significant reduction in the turn-on electric field and an obvious increase in the emission current density as well as an improvement in emission stability. The improvement of field emission characteristics achieved is attributed to the low work function and good resistance to ion bombardment of titanium carbide.     

Field electron emission and field desorption of cesium from graphene

Field electron emission and field desorption of cesium ions from a monatomic graphene film on Ir and graphene clusters in amorphous carbon are investigated using field electron microscopy and continuous-mode field desorption microscopy. The deposition of cesium on amorphous carbon with graphite clusters leads to inversion of the emission (i.e., emission from the emission centers disappears against the back-ground of uniform emission from the previously nonemitting surface). In both systems, ion current pulses are observed during field desorption in a stationary electric field. During field desorption from the graphene film, current pulses of Cs⁺ ions with a duration shorter than 0.1 s appear from the plane faces of the iridium point. During desorption from graphite clusters, ion current pulses form a pattern of “collapsing rings” on the screen. Possible mechanisms of the observed processes are considered using the model of cesium intercalation by graphite and by the graphene layer and the desorption of Cs atoms under the action of the electric field, as well as the “flip” of the dipole moment during the cesium intercalation.     

Electron field emission from amorphous carbon with N-doped nanostructures pyrolyzed from polyaniline

Carbon-based materials have been of great interest due to their potential application in cold cathodes for field emission displays and other vacuum microelectronic devices. Pyrolyzed polyaniline (PPANI) with N-doped nanostructures was prepared by pyrolysis of polyaniline at high temperature of 900 °C. The morphologies and microstructures were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, AFM, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that there were sp²C-N and sp³C-N bonds between the nitrogen and the carbon atoms in the nanostructures of the PPANI obtained. The electron field emission investigations showed that the turn-on field and effective work function ?_e of PPANI were 1.7 V/μm and 0.010 eV which were lower than N-doped amorphous carbon films obtained by other methods.     

Role of atomic inelastic collisions in a Cs-He steady state discharge

The population of various excited states and the electron temperature in a mixture of cesium vapor and helium have been measured spectroscopically in a stationary electrical discharge where helium atoms remain in their ground state. An equilibrium between the populations of highly excited cesium levels was observed to be characterized by a Boltzmann temperature equal to the gas temperature. It is concluded that the populations of these high levels are more influenced by Cs¹+He inelastic collisions than by Cs¹+e collisions when [He]/[e]?10⁶. The influence of the helium atoms has also been observed on the relation between electron temperature and electron density.     

Frequency shift of the magnetic resonance in 5<Emphasis Type="Italic">s</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">S</Emphasis><Subscript>1/2</Subscript> rubidium atoms due to spin-exchange collisions with optically oriented cesium atoms

For the case of cesium atoms optically oriented in a mixture of cesium and rubidium vapors, the temperature dependence of the frequency shift of a magnetic resonance excited in a set of Zeeman sublevels for two hyperfine states of ⁸⁷Rb 5s ² S _1/2 atoms. It is shown that, in a weak magnetic field of about 2 × 10^?6 T, this shift is determined by the spin-exchange interaction of rubidium atoms with optically oriented ¹³³Cs atoms.     

On a source of outgoing electrons in a pulsed gas discharge

It has been shown that explosive electron emission is delayed by 10^?10 s with respect to field emission in a pulsed subnanosecond discharge in atmospheric air. A pulse of outgoing electrons is observed for approximately the same time in air. Correspondingly, field emission is a source of these electrons. Owing to the sharp nonlinearity of the emission current density as a function of the electric field j(E), the real duration of the current pulse of the outgoing electrons is equal to about 10^?11 s.     

钛碳化物改性碳纳米管的场发射性能

通过在碳纳米管(CNTs)表面沉积钛薄膜并经过高温真空退火处理,在CNTs表面形成了低功函数的钛碳化物.研究了钛碳化物改性CNTs的场发射性能,并利用X射线光电子能谱(XPS)对改性碳管进行了结构表征.实验结果表明,高温真空退火可使沉积在CNTs表面的钛原子与碳原子发生化学反应生成钛碳化物;经钛碳化物改性处理的CNTs的场发射性能明显改善,开启电场由改性前的121降低到104V/μm,当电场强度为234V/μm时,场发射电流密度由改性前的23增大到改性后的13.5mA/cm²,同时,CNTs的表面抗离子轰击能力增强,发射稳定性改善.对钛碳化物改性增强CNTs薄膜场发射性能的机理进行了分析. 关键词： 碳纳米管 钛碳化物 场发射 结构表征     

Effects of Cs treatment on field emission properties of capped carbon nanotubes

Within the methodology [M. Khazaei, A.A. Farajian, Y. Kawazoe, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005) 177602] based on first-principles electronic structure calculations, the effects of Cs treatment on current emissions and emission patterns of capped carbon nanotubes are considered at low deposition densities when the nanotubes are under an electric field 0.2 V/Å. The results show that the current emission from the cap with one adsorbed Cs is 3.4 times larger than the cap without any Cs. It is 9.6 times larger in the cap with two adsorbed Cs atoms. After Cs deposition the emission patterns become asymmetric (current emission from the carbon atoms located at the topmost pentagon ring close to Cs atoms is larger than the other atomic sites). There are very few localized states on Cs atoms. Hence, although the tunneling probability of electron emission from Cs atoms is significant, there is no current from Cs atoms. In addition, the effect of Cs on work function reduction of nanotubes is explained in terms of Cs deposition densities and the surface dipole moments.     

The adsorption of xenon by W(111), and its interaction with preadsorbed oxygen

The physisorption of Xe on W(111) and of Xe on partial layers of oxygen chemisorbed on W(111) has been studied using flash desorption and work function methods. It has been found that xenon adsorbs up to monolayer coverages at 104K. Xenon desorbs from W(111) as a single binding state following first order kinetics. At low coverages (θ_Xe < 0.07) the binding energy decreases with increasing coverage possibly because of the presence of high energy adsorption sites due to crystal imperfections and edge effects. For θ_Xe > 0.07 the desorption data fit a first order rate expression with a desorption energy of 9.3 kcal/mol and preexponential ν = 10¹⁵s^?1. The observed work function change of ?1.1 ± 0.1 eV is consistent with monolayer estimates reported in field emission studies of physisorbed xenon on tungsten. The effect of preadsorbed oxygen layers on the physisorption of xenon on this surface is very striking. The energy of desorption shifts as much as 50% higher for a moderate exposure of oxygen. Several physisorption models are explored along with estimates of dispersion and electrostatic interaction contributions.     

Properties of physisorbed water layers on gold revealed in a FEM study

Field emission study of thin water layers was performed to examine their properties and their changes after application of a high electric field. Comparison of field emission characteristics of water layers adsorbed on clean tungsten and gold-covered tungsten suggested that, whereas water molecules adsorbed on tungsten are oriented by oxygen atoms towards the metal surface, water layer on gold-covered tungsten has amorphous character with no preferential orientation. Both heated and non-heated layers are heavily influenced by applied high electric field strengths (F ≈30 MV/cm). Decrease of the work function and of the voltage needed for a constant emission current during successive increase of the electric field was tentatively interpreted in terms of chemical and morfological changes of the water layer due to the field dissociation and solvation.     

Adsorption of single alkali atoms on tungsten using field emission and field desorption

Single adatom events have been detected and the binding energies and dipole moments of single sodium, potassium and cesium adatoms have been measured on the (110), (112) and (111) planes of tungsten in a probe hole field emission microscope. The Fowler-Nordheim formulation has been modified to include averaging effects implicit in probe hole measurements on single adsorbed atoms. The work function changes and consequent dipole moments associated with single alkali adatoms on a tungsten surface have been estimated. A model has been proposed to obtain binding energies from measurements of the field required to desorb a single alkali adatom. The results are in good agreement with current theoretical predictions for the adsorption of single alkali atoms on metals.     

Measurement and modeling of work function changes during low energy cesium sputtering

In this paper, a H-terminated silicon wafer was bombarded by low energy cesium ions during ToF-SIMS analysis and work function variations of the target were measured for different analysis conditions. This measurement was performed by measuring the shift of the secondary ions energy distributions with a reflectron type analyzer. At first, the silicon’s work function change was found to be −2.3 eV during 500 eV Cs⁺ bombardment at 45°. This effect is due to the creation of a dipolar layer at the surface of the silicon by the implanted cesium. Then the work function variation was measured at 300 eV for varying cesium surface concentrations. The work function was found to decrease monotonously with the increasing cesium surface concentration, as during cesium adsorption experiments. The results were modeled following three different approaches and the value of the effective polarizability α of cesium was found to be equal to 1.9 × 10⁻³⁹ C m²/V. Finally, the effect of the bombardment energy on the work function variation was studied for beams with energies ranging from 250 to 2000 eV. The effective polarizability of cesium was found to increase with increasing Cs beam energy.     

Electron field emission properties of conducting polymer coated multi walled carbon nanotubes

The present work describes the field emission characteristics of conducting polymer coated multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) field emitters fabricated over flexible graphitized carbon cloth. Nanocomposites involving the combination of MWNTs and conducting polymers polyaniline (PANI) and polypyrrole (PPy) have been prepared by in-situ polymerization method and have been characterized using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Using spin coating method, field emitters based on PANI/MWNTs and PPy/MWNTs over flexible graphitized carbon cloth have been prepared. The field emission characteristics have been studied using an indigenously fabricated set up in a vacuum chamber with a base pressure of 2 × 10⁻⁵ Pa and the results are discussed. Our results display that the field emission performance of the emitters depends strongly on the work function of the emitting material. Low turn on emission field of 2.12 V/μm at 10 μA/cm² and high emission current density of 1 mA/cm² at 3.04 V/μm have been observed for PANI/MWNTs field emitter.     

Interrelationship between the polarization moments of different parity upon optical pumping of atoms under magnetic resonance conditions: II. Theory

The mutual coupling between the polarization moments with ranks of different parity is theoretically considered. The manifestation of this mutual coupling has been revealed previously in experiments on magnetic resonance of optically oriented cesium atoms. The two well-known types of the coupling between the polarization moments are considered: the field coupling of these moments that occur due to the breaking of the hyperfine coupling between the electronic and nuclear moments of the alkali atom by the magnetic field and the light coupling of the moments due to the absorption of the pumping light by polarized atoms. The experimentally observed similarity in the shape of resonance signals of alignment and orientation upon circularly polarized pumping can be explained by the fact that, for alkali atoms, the generation of alignment by light at the wavelength of the D ₁ line is of low efficiency. Therefore, alignment arises mainly from orientation by means of either the field or the light coupling of polarization moments. For metastable 2³ S ₁ ⁴He atoms, no influence of the orientation on the alignment was observed because, in these atoms, the field coupling between the polarization moments is absent and the light coupling is not displayed because the generation of alignment by the circularly polarized pumping light is more efficient than the creation of alignment from orientation by means of light coupling of polarization moments.     

A thin film triode type carbon nanotube field emission cathode

The field electron emission of carbon nanotubes has been heavily studied over the past two decades for various applications, such as in display technologies, microwave amplifiers, and spacecraft propulsion. However, a commercializable lightweight and internally gated electron source has yet to be realized. This work presents the fabrication and testing of a novel internally gated carbon nanotube field electron emitter. Several specific methods are used to prevent electrical shorting of the gate layer, a common failure for internally gated devices. A unique design is explored where the etch pits extend into the silicon substrate and isotropic etching is used to create a lateral buffer zone between the gate and carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are self-aligned to and within 10 microns from the gate, which creates large electric fields at low potential inputs. Initial tests confirm high field emission performance with an anode current density (based on total area of the device) of 293 μA?cm^?2 and a gate current density of 1.68 mA?cm^?2 at 250 V.     

Parity violation in helium and cesium and the effect of electron-electron interaction

We investigate the parity violating effect in helium and cesium atoms due to the exchange of a Z⁰-meson between atomic electrons. It is found that this effect is negligible for both atoms in comparison with the contribution from the electron-nucleus interactions, if we take the neutral-current coupling between electrons as predicted by the SU (2) × U (1) theory and sin²θ_W ≈ 0.3.     

Anomalous dependence of the magnetic resonance signal of cesium atoms in the afterglow in an N<Subscript>2</Subscript>-Ar mixture

The investigation of spin-exchange collisions between optically oriented cesium atoms in the ground ² S _1/2 state and nitrogen atoms in the ground ⁴ S _3/2 state reveals an anomalous behavior of the magnetic resonance signal of cesium atoms in the afterglow in an N₂-Ar mixture, namely, the magnetic resonance signal is slowly enhanced during the time interval between the high-frequency pulses exciting a discharge in the absorption cell. It is found that such a behavior of the magnetic resonance signal is explained by a slow change in the concentration of nitrogen atoms in the absorption cell, which affects the magnetic resonance of cesium atoms via efficient spin exchange.     

Effect of pulsed ion irradiation on the electronic structure of multi-walled carbon nanotubes

The effect of pulsed ion irradiation and vacuum annealing on the ratio of sp ²- and sp ³-hybridized orbitals of carbon atoms in the layers of oriented multi-walled carbon nanotubes has been studied by analyzing the photoemission spectra of the C1s core level and the valence band of carbon, which were obtained using the equipment of the BESSY II Russian-German beamline of synchrotron radiation and a Riber analytical system. It has been shown that the ion irradiation leads to a significant decrease in the fraction of atoms with the sp ³ hybridization of electrons. On the contrary, the annealing reduces the fraction of the sp ³-component in the spectra of carbon. Typical features of the valence band of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in the annealed and irradiated states have been established.