Emission properties of the silicon cathodes coated with doped diamond-like carbon films

Abstract

Summary form only given. To enhance the field emission of electrons from cathodes, coated by diamond-like carbon (DLC) films the emission properties of DLC-films, deposited on the plane silicon wafers and silicon tip arrays, have been investigated. The silicon tip arrays were formed by wet chemical etching on n-type Si and sharpened using method of surface oxidation. The DLC films were deposited at low temperature from CH/sub 4/:H/sub 2/:N/sub 2/ mixture using PE CVD. Nitrogen content in gas mixture was varied in wide range. As a result, the DLC films with different content of nitrogen have been obtained. For characterization of these DLC films on silicon, the different methods (namely, ellipsometry;, current-voltage dependences, IR spectrometry) have been used. The optical absorption spectra indicate on the creation the C-N bonds in N-doped DLC, and increasing of sp/sup 3/ bond contents have been observed.