Fabrication of a high-resolution electron beam with a carbon nanotube cold-cathode

Abstract

High-resolution electron microscopy requires electron beams with high-brightness. Hence, the authors used a resist-assisted patterning process to fabricate a new high-resolution cold-cathode electron beam with carbon nanotube (CNT) electron emitters. Herein, the authors successfully prepared one free-standing CNT emitter containing no impurities. The authors calculated the electron beam properties of the CNT emitter and found a reduced brightness of 1.7 × 107 A m−2 sr−1 V−1 at a current of 1.5 μA with a spatial resolution of 50 μm in a diode configuration. The one free-standing CNT emitter cold-cathode electron beam could be applied to a variety of electron microscope devices.