The low-dimensional effect in single carbon-based nanoemitters of electrons

Single nanoemitters of electrons – hill-shaped carbon nano-objects – were fabricated with various sizes and configurations on thin diamond-like films by means of a local chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique in a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) lithograph. A definite correlation between the nano-object height and surface electron potential has been established with the STM. It was found that, below a critical object thickness of about 15 nm, the surface electron potential was substantially lowered for smaller nano-objects (twice the decrease in the information signal for the 3-nm-thick features). The data obtained is considered to be strong evidence of low-dimensional effects in the process of low-threshold field electron emission observed earlier for nanostructured carbon materials. PACS 81.07.-b; 79.70.+q; 68.37.Ef