Field Emission Properties of Carbon Tubule Nanocoils

Abstract

The first carbon nanocoil field emitter has been prepared by catalytic thermal chemical vapor deposition and its properties of field emission have been investigated. The carbon nanocoils grow selectively from the patterned iron film and maintain their self-organization well. The field emission measurement shows that the turn-on field is as low as 180 V at a 130 µm gap. High emission current density, excellent stability, especially uniformity of the field emission from carbon nanocoils have been observed. These properties suggest that the carbon nanocoils is an attractive candidate for the fabrication of flat panel field emission display.