Numerical study on the field emission properties of aligned carbon nanotubes using the hybrid field enhancement scheme

The magnitude of the local electric field and the electron emission current density for an array of aligned carbon nanotubes is estimated. For describing in detail the properties of the local electric field in the vicinity of the nanotube tips, a hybrid method allowing for the local determination of the field enhancement factor is introduced. The field factor consists of two parts: an internal factor which describes the structure of the carbon nanotubes and an external factor which represents the field screening effect due to neighboring nanotubes. The current density is obtained using the Fowler–Nordheim equation with the hybrid field enhancement scheme. As a result, the emission properties for an array of nanotubes with a given length are described satisfactorily, and an optimum value for the nanotube spacing is determined. PACS 85.45.Fd; 85.45.Db