An empirical study of dynamic properties of an individual carbon nanotube electron source system

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are highly desirable for cold field emission applications because of their stable chemical structure, high current density, and low turn-on fields. The individual CNT has been suggested for high-resolution electron microscope applications. Its low electron beam energy spread and source size compared to conventional electron sources, are particularly attractive for electron beam lithography in the 10-nm feature size regime. A fundamental understanding of the individual carbon nanotube electron source has important implications for electron microscope applications. To this end, the authors previously presented experimental and device simulation data which reveal field emission behavior of the CNT itself under an electrostatic field. This paper presents an empirical study of some dynamic properties of an electron source system that incorporates an individual CNT and propose a representative circuit model for it.