Abstract
We investigated the emission stability of individual multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and clarified the mechanism of emission current instability. An initial decrease in the emission current, which is generally seen in the case of metal emitters, was hardly observed. Furthermore, the current fluctuation was much lower than that for a metal emitter, and the peak-to-peak fluctuation was less than 2% when the emission pattern was pentagonal. However, spikelike and steplike noises occurred, with a frequency approximately proportional to the product of the emission current and the background pressure. These noises may be caused by physical adsorption and ion impact desorption of residual gas molecules. The number of these noise events depended on the emission pattern: it was much greater in the case of a nonpentagonal emission pattern than in the case of a pentagonal emission pattern. This type of current noise is considered to be due to ionic-collision-induced damage at the surface of the tip when the emission pattern is nonpentagonal.
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