Electrical and field-emission properties of chemically anchored single-walled carbon nanotube patterns

Abstract

Well-defined and high-density single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) patterns were fabricated using a combination of photolithographic and chemical assembling processes. Unlike the patterned SWNT arrays reported thus far, these SWNT patterned layers have high-density multilayer structures and excellent surface adhesion due to their direct chemical bonding to their substrates, which results in high electrical conductivity. We found that the high-density multilayer SWNT patterns emit electrons under an applied electrical field. The electrical resistivities of the SWNT layers were found to be 5–10Ωcm, with a turn-on electric field of about 3V∕μm at an emission current density of 10μA∕cm2. This technique for fabricating SWNT patterns can be used in the production of field-emission displays and in future device integration requiring carbon nanotubes (CNTs), because it provides large-area patterning of SWNTs with high stability and uniformity.